From Yesterday– For Tomorrow
Lynne Therese Elwinger, O.C.D.
“Spring ahead – fall back”, we’re told, is an easy way to remember the direction to change the clock for Daylight Savings Time to begin or end. This fall, as I’ve been reflecting on our Saints, on the current problems of our nation and our world, and on my own spiritual journey, I find this little phase very helpful for the task. I have come once again to the realization that there are times in our personal and communal lives for springing forward, opening new paths in the wildernesses of life, and trying new things. And there are also times to pause to look at things through the rear-view mirror, to identify and recapture the values and experiences that saw us, our ancestors, and our nation through challenging times in the past. To everything there is, indeed, a season. While we definitely need new ways of visioning and acting as we proceed into the 21st century, we don’t want to lose sight of the foundations from which our hopes have arisen.
Autumn Has Arrived
The Seed Savers Exchange, now here in Iowa, for many years has used the slogan, “from the past for the future”, in regard to the importance of saving heirloom seeds, no longer available commercially, for future needs. As autumn has arrived with harvesting and next year’s seeds, this phrase has repeatedly come to mind in a different frame of reference. As a nation and in our own lives, we at times need to take stock of where we’ve been and where we hope to go. It is good to be reminded that we are not doing this for ourselves alone, but also for the generations yet unborn, whose lives will be deeply affected by our current choices.
Our October Saints, Therese and Teresa, teach us the importance of cultivating the inner life, not only for our own personal spiritual development, but also as an apostolate of prayer for the world. Each of them was acutely aware of the outer world issues of her time, and both embraced those concerns with reflection and deep prayer. They have made us aware that our inner work has outer effects in the world around us.
Past and Present Experiences
When challenges present themselves, it is very helpful to revisit our roots, both personal and communal. When the future seems unpredictable and confusing, a look at past and present experiences of God’s presence with us can offer not only comfort but guidance. We rediscover and reaffirm the foundational values contained in our history and remember those times when we were especially aware of the Divine presence with us and acting for us in our lives. The same God continues to walk with us today, even when we aren’t aware of it. Getting in touch with these memories and the emotions they evoke is a good way of putting ourselves back together again – of re-membering. Sometimes we have to take a few steps back to find out how to go forward.
Many of the stories recounted in Scripture, both before and after the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, were intended to draw us into the inner experience of God’s presence underlying them. Outer events are significantly connected to the inner events going on in the Divine-human exchange, and vice-versa. If we take time to recognize this, we can really learn a lot about ourselves and our God. Our own past experiences and those of the people of past ages still have something to say to us today. For everyone’s sake, for today and for all our tomorrows, we need to be listening!
Sr. Lynne Thérèse Elwinger of the Resurrection O.C.D.