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Now that the weather is getting a little chillier with the beginning of Fall, we may start to look for thicker jackets in stores. With our Louisiana weather as erratic as it is, still there are very few who carry clothing for all four seasons in their stores. One possible exception is the BassPro Shop. Even in the middle of muggy summer, they sell sub-freezing weather jackets and pants. Even Zacchaeus, the short tax collector in our gospel who had to climb a tree to see Jesus, would find something useful at BassPro, like a deer stand; he would get a much better view from there.
We know that every year, we go through four seasons--Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter. Hence, in our closets we have appropriate clothing for each season. Did you know that our souls also go through the four seasons? From our birth to our death we experience God's love for us as Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. At times, we feel that our love for God is like Spring, bursting with spontaneous energy; at other times, our love for God feels like a dead leaf about to fall from the branch. The mystery is that God is always close to us, regardless of where we are on our spiritual journey, yet we perceive His love for us like the changing four seasons.
(from the "Seasons of the Soul" by Concepcion Cabrera de Armida)
In the season of Spring, fresh new grass and flowers blossom. For us, the Springtime is when Our Lord seems so close and loving. He gives us plenty of consolations and a very powerful attraction to virtue. We feel as though we can handle any amount of suffering because Our Lord is so near and our soul is at peace. Prayer seems so easy, and the Lord constantly seeks us, calls us, day and night; He showers us with tenderness and heavenly favors.
In the Summertime, the rays of the burning sun bears down; the dry winds blow the petals from the flowers so that the fruit will be strengthened to grow. For us, the Summertime is when Our Lord begins to water our soul with suffering and pain because it is the only thing that will give us life. Desolations begin and the sense of being forsaken starts, and we tremble in the darkness and the storms that rage throughout the night.
In the Autumn of the soul, the fruits finish ripening to the point of dropping from the tree on their own. We have the color and taste of Jesus since our transformation into Him is complete. Our love is not self-seeking, but it is pure, generous, and constant which seeks only to make Our Lord Jesus and our neighbor happy. In Autumn, all the calumnies, scorn, ungratefulness, and humiliations combined are accepted with joy.
In the Winter of the soul, the kernels or the seeds mature; the freezing weather and frosts which easily damage delicate flowers and tender fruits, are good for the kernel. In the more or less cruel Winters, we may be buffeted by Satan who in his vengeance takes us in his claws and injures us, and yet this purifies us even more and makes us holy, and his anger doubles and yet despairs before a humble soul. Even when the hell rages against us, in the Winter, our soul is in union with the Father, resting in His arms and in His Will. In Winter our love for God is stronger than death.
As we go through each season, we must bear in mind that our Heavenly Father's love for us is constant, ever near, gentle, and compassionate. It is our perception of His love for us that changes. People often ask me, "Father, God does not love me anymore. Where is He? Why is He causing suffering in my family?" Around us, we know of persons who just found out that they have terminal cancer or just found out that they lost their job. Our soul may be going through Summer. Summer is usually the longest period of the interior life, the hardest and the most difficult. Summer is the school of the saints. We suffer terribly; but if we are humble, we do so peacefully, and even rejoice in the crucible that purifies us, with the sweet hope of once again finding Our Lord. Alternately, Jesus shows Himself to us and then hides from us; He inspires our soul and He leaves us; it is no longer milk and honey which He places on our lips; it is bitterness--a sea of contradictions, anguishes, illnesses and all kinds of crosses; and those of us rebellious to the teachings and invitations of Our Lord, who do not want to step into His bloody footsteps, will remain half-done, stunted, sour, or rotten and will never reach the end, because "whoever wishes to come after Jesus," must deny himself and take up his Cross. Summer costs us sweat and anguish, but those of us who persevere with self-sacrifice will grow and develop to love the Cross.
All of us know that some summers are unbearable and some winters are too harsh. Just as we go through many Summers and Winters in our lifetime, our soul will go through many Springs, Summers, Falls, and Winters. Our goal at the end of our life is that all these Seasons of the Soul transform us into the likeness of Our Lord Jesus who created us. We may begin our spiritual life like Zacchaeus who was a selfish man worthy of despise, but through the Seasons of the Soul we may find Jesus inviting us, "Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house."
