Gold, red, green

This has been a spectacular autumn, and not only in the countryside, writes Sister Pamela Hussey. The trees in Cavendish Square, near where I live, have had me standing and staring in amazement at the riot of colour, and even rushing to my watercolours to try and reproduce something of the brilliance: the trees on fire with the gold, red and green in each leaf. One leaf can be the subject of a painting, just to capture the colour before it has gone forever. For go it must, that is the way of nature. But we know for certain that, come the Spring, new life will be bursting out all over the place, and the whole incredible cycle will begin again.

November, fittingly, is the month when, on All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day, we remember our dead: those we know and can name, those whose names have gone down in history, those who have died in battle. But not only these ….  Elizabeth Johnson, in her book, Friends of God and Prophets, tells us: 'In a particular way [All Saints'] is a day that celebrates the great host of "anonymous" whom the world counts as nobodies and whom the church, too, has lost track of but who are held in the embrace of God who loses not one.'  She remembers 'those nameless saints who raised a little hell in defense of the vulnerable and the growth of justice'.  And she continues: 'In view of the cosmos's participation in the "communion of the holy", this day, finally, remembers with gratitude the complex community of life in which the human race is embedded, the vast array of life given in nourishment for the life of others, and the systems of earth, air, and water, that sustain the whole. We lament the waste of this bounty through human greed and ignorance, and the species that have gone extinct. The whole earth groans even now, and is included in the hope that ultimately "all will be well, and all manner of thing will be well". A community that remembers in this way aligns itself with the earth under threat, and begins to act with ethical responsibility for all creatures who share in the communion of the holy.' What a programme for humanity! 

To bring humanity down to the manageable, I am proud to say that I am the great-aunt of thirteen young American boys and girls (my brother's grandchildren). On 7 January I will be 86, and on 25 January the thirteen will be increased by one: a family of four girls will have a new sister, or a brother! If the latter, he will risk being seriously spoilt by four adoring sisters. So ... we oldies are beginning the last chapters of our book of life, but new chapters are being written, and what signs of hope these new chapters and books offer our jaded and rather frightened world! Furthermore, on 25 December, Jesus will have come among us, to be our guarantee that, no matter what, ultimately all will be well. So the incredible cycle goes on! Perhaps this prodigal giving and reproducing will lead us to bow down in amazement and thanksgiving .…  And perhaps that amazement and thanksgiving will be the dominant notes in our preparations for and celebrations of the Birth … and the births!