Seasons of Prayer

Regardless of what the image above may lead you to think, ConcordPastor has not lost his liturgical sensibilities!

As Kiwi Nomad has reminded us in the comboxes, those who live south of the equator have a different experience of the liturgical seasons in relation to the four seasons. An article in the November '07 issue of Worship offers instructive commentary on this reality. Carmel Pilcher, RSJ, a liturgical consultant for the diocese of Maitland-Newcastle in Australia, has titled her essay with a clue to its content: Poinsettia: Christmas or Pentecost?

I first learned to associate the poinsettia bush with Pentecost many years ago when I was a small child. At some point in time Australian women began the tradition of decorating the sanctuaries of churches on Pentecost Sunday with arrangements of the vivid red long-stemmed branches of the poinsettia tree. We would arrive at Mass and I would know it was Pentecost Sunday because the sanctuary was a mass of red flowers. The color not only complemented the red of the tabernacle veil and vestments, but the shape of the leaves brought to life for me Luke's image of the "divided tongues of fire" that came upon the disciples (Acts 2:2-3). The poinsettia bush or tree flourishes in parts of Australia and its leaves turn red at the beginning of winter -- just in time for Pentecost...

Australians celebrate Christmas as a summer festival. At Mass the words “Lord our God, with the birth of your Son, your glory breaks on the world” take on a particular meaning when the sun is at its brightest in the southern skies. Christ the sun bursts upon the earth not only to dispel the darkness but to sear and scorch the land with power and might. Ironically and perhaps wistfully in the extreme heat of Australian Christians continue to sing “traditional” Christmas carols that imagine a “silent night” and “winter’s snow!”

In the nation's psyche bush fires have become associated with the beginning of the Lenten seasons. Some years ago, co-incidentally on two successive Ash Wednesdays, fire raged through South Easter Australia, destroying hundreds of homes, and taking many lives. Then another massive and especially devastating fire in the weeks preceding Ash Wednesday killed a number of people and destroyed wild life and properties. The local bishop visited the people most affected by the fire and sent containers of the ash from the area to each of the parishes to be used in the ceremony on the first day of Lent. Australians dread bush fires because of their destructive power, but Australians know that fire is needed to regenerate many of the native flora and vegetation. The signing with ash reminds them that the destruction of fire leads to the transformation of life. The ritual use of ash from the devastating bush fires at the request of the bishop provided a poignant strong bond of solidarity with those who suffered.

Easter marks the season of new life for Australians, not with the characteristics of European spring, but with the coming of a cooler climate and and the hope of refreshing rains. Easter water takes on special significance in a desert land where water is the most precious natural commodity and the inhabitants carefully conserve its use. Water offers solace from the heat, is needed for suvival by all living species, and it also quenches bush fires. The waters of baptism become the strongest reminder of the fragility of life and creation's utter dependence on God. New Christians are welcomed into the community and become the sign of this new life and growth.

The season of Easter continues to reflect sings of new life for the believing assembly. Each Sunday the water of Baptism is sprinkled upon the assembly. Children come to the the table of Eucharist for the first time to complete their initiation as Christians. They mystagogy is a significant time for the whole assembly to join the new Catholics to renew and vitalize their faith. The light of Christ, so powerfully experienced in our celebration of the incarnation, is a guiding light of hope and our promise of everlasting light at a time when Australians are approaching the relative darkness of winter.