It is the season of Autumn for us here. Soon the surrounding oak trees will drop their abundant foliage providing the annual challenge of gathering leaves for compost.
With some recent harsh weather, several trees in the area sustained damage and required removal. I’m a little sad when a tree is taken down, even if it results in fewer leaves to rake. Trees give testimony to nature’s endurance, beautiful diversity, and commitment to slow and steady growth.
With the lens of faith, trees are part of God’s wisdom for creation’s self-sustaining liveliness. They stand as evidence of the earth’s deeply rooted goodness and blessing, silently conserving soil, providing habitat, shade, and so much more.
Sometimes trees are planted to focus our memories on a particular occasion. They also are used as signposts on nature trails to guide our way.
On the college campus where we met, my wife and I became engaged under a solitary tree, next to a path we had walked together as students many times. A promise under a maple tree set the course for the rest of our lives.
When our grandson received First Holy Communion, we celebrated by giving him a Rosary. The Rosary was crafted of olive wood from the Holy Land. As he opened the gift, the strand of beads seemed oversized in his hands. Maybe, in a way, our prayer is always bigger than we are; it stretches us to grow in the direction of infinite love to the God who gave us being.
No matter how a Rosary is fashioned, each is always rooted in Divine Love. Each time we pray the Rosary, we remember that it is a sign of the Father’s enduring love for us.
“But I, like an olive tree in the house of God, trust in God’s faithful love forever.” (Psalm 52:10)
I suspect that Jesus would have known well and enjoyed the trees native to His homeland. I imagine that as a young man, Jesus would have been taught by Joseph the value and usefulness of trees, how to work with wood, to shape and build with the wisdom of his craft.
In our prayer, we open ourselves to let the Lord shape our lives.
In this Rosary Month, let us pray in our families that the Lord focus our memory and guide our way, deepen the roots of our faith and our capacity to love.