Fall is a Great Time to Embrace the Liturgy’s BeautyRead Time 10 min

The recent beautiful fall weather has encouraged me to reflect on how the liturgy and creation together bring us closer to God. Pope Francis, in his encyclical “Laudato Si’,” teaches the following: “The sacraments are a privileged way in which nature is taken up by God to become a means of mediating supernatural life. Through our worship of God, we are invited to embrace the world on a different plane. Water, oil, fire and colours are taken up in all their symbolic power and incorporated in our act of praise.” (No. 235)

Our experience of the world around us is an opportunity to come to an appreciation for the many ways God leads us to an ever-deepening communion with him. A casual walk through fallen leaves, a picturesque, multi-hued fall sunset and chilly autumnal temperatures can help lead us into an appreciation for the many ways the material world manifests God’s refulgence. (Maybe wearing our favorite cotton sweater or flannel shirt helps us to do the same thing.)

Catholics are not afraid of the natural world. As Pope Francis reminds us, Catholics “know” natural things mediate supernatural life. The season of fall is an excellent opportunity to regain an appreciation for the supernatural world and our ultimate end as Christians. Creation becomes a means through which we come to know of God’s nearness to us and how he wishes to extend the very life of the Blessed Trinity to us with the material world, especially in the sacraments. Quoting St. John Paul II, Pope Francis goes so far to instruct us that “Christianity does not reject matter. Rather, bodiliness is considered in all its value in the liturgical act, whereby the human body is disclosed in its inner nature as a temple of the Holy Spirit and is united with the Lord Jesus, who himself took a body for the world’s salvation.” (Laudato Si’, No. 235)

In the very last words of Matthew’s Gospel, our Blessed Lord promises us that he will never abandon us when he says to his disciples, “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)

The Most Blessed Sacrament makes known this promise. Pope Francis notes, “It is in the Eucharist that all that has been created finds its greatest exaltation. Grace, which tends to manifest itself tangibly, found unsurpassable expression when God himself became man and gave himself as food for his creatures. The Lord, in the culmination of the mystery of the Incarnation, chose to reach our intimate depths through a fragment of matter. He comes not from above, but from within, he comes that we might find him in this world of ours.” (Laudato Si’, No. 236)

Enjoying pleasant fall weather can be an “event” that leads us to desire Jesus and to worthily receive Jesus in Holy Communion that we might know him and be transformed by him through the sanctifying grace he offers us through his Body and Blood.

Quoting Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis goes on to teach, “The Eucharist joins heaven and earth; it embraces and penetrates all creation. The world which came forth from God’s hands returns to him in blessed and undivided adoration: in the bread of the Eucharist, ‘creation is projected towards divinization, towards the holy wedding feast, towards unification with the Creator himself.’” (Laudato Si’, No. 236)

Each time we receive Holy Communion, we are invited to allow God to transform our hearts, minds, souls and wills to become more like that of the one whom we receive sacramentally, Jesus Christ, through whom all things were made. We are confident that he is seated at the right hand of the Father interceding for us to be made new through the sacramental life of the Church.

Perhaps now is a good time to take a walk and enjoy the beauty of fall as it draws us into a profound understanding of source of beauty — God himself. Here are some suggestions for places to visit: the Catholic Ecology Center, Neosho; Boerner Botanical Gardens, Hales Corners; Mequon Nature Preserve, Mequon; Schlitz Audubon Nature Center, Bayside; and for those of you who prefer to stay inside, how about the Mitchell Park Domes, Milwaukee?

While out and about, pray the words of the Prophet Daniel (3:57-87) which the Church frequently prays at the Liturgy of the Hours:

“Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord, praise and exalt him above all forever. Angels of the Lord, bless the Lord, praise and exalt him above all forever. You heavens, bless the Lord, praise and exalt him above all forever. All you waters above the heavens, bless the Lord, praise and exalt him above all forever. All you powers, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. Sun and moon, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. Stars of heaven, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. Every shower and dew, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. All you winds, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. Fire and heat, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. Cold and chill, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. Dew and rain, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. Frost and chill, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. Hoarfrost and snow, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. Nights and days, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. Light and darkness, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. Lightnings and clouds, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. Let the earth bless the Lord, praise and exalt him above all forever. Mountains and hills, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. Everything growing on earth, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. You springs, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. Seas and rivers, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. You sea monsters and all water creatures, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. All you birds of the air, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. All you beasts, wild and tame, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. All you mortals, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. O Israel, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. Priests of the Lord, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. Servants of the Lord, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. Spirits and souls of the just, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. Holy and humble of heart, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.”