The nights have dipped into decidedly chilly temperatures here in the Northeast. My little family is planning a trip to the ocean, avoiding the beaches where white sharks have been spotted slipping close to shore in search of plump, young seals. We’re soaking in what’s left of the summer. Our school year starts on the first of September, and the chill in the air makes it easy to imagine the upcoming season of spiced chai and studious afternoons under the bright leaves of autumn.
The meteorologists I listen to are predicting an early, cold autumn in New England, but in my heart, autumn begins on August 24th, this year the first anniversary of my mother’s death. Last August, losing her brought a crisp, biting wind – a sense of change – and my altered self stepped over a threshold and into a new first for me: motherlessness.
Assumption
Now, as her first anniversary in Eternity draws near, and my Threshold-year enters its autumn, I’m ready to offer thanks to the other Mother who comforted me this past year. Autumn is a Mary-heavy season in the Church. The Feast of the Assumption on the fifteenth starts us out in celebration of the Mother Most Amiable, the Queen of Heaven who was scooped up body and soul to rejoice with Her Son in Heaven.
Her feast day invites us to lay herbs on the altar, to bless them and then use them with love throughout the year – like so many mothers she offers help and comfort. My own mom loved to take her grown children grocery shopping to “stock up a bit” whenever she visited. On the Assumption, Our Lady “stocks us up” with little herbal sacramentals to last through the year. I like to hang some of my herb bundles around the house, and steep others in brandy with honey to make a little “Assumption Elixir” for the coming cold months.
St. Michael’s Lent
After the Assumption we move into the Franciscan tradition of St. Michael’s Lent. St. Francis’ deep devotion to Our Lady and his love of over-the-top fasting led him to fling himself wholeheartedly into a fast that connects the Assumption and the Feast of St. Michael in late September. In our family, we observe this fast with varying degrees of intensity.
This year, the 800th anniversary of St. Francis’ Transitus, we’re feeling a push to do a little more. I’m entering into this season as a sort of mini-New Year or a deep fall cleaning – brushing out cobwebs, and picking up prayers. St. Francis, running eternally toward Christ and His Mother, is my guide in scrubbing stagnation and complacency from my soul.
Our Lady of Sorrows and Ember Days
The Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows on September fifteenth connects us deeply with Our Lady’s heart as she stood beneath her Son on the Cross and buried Him in the tomb. This year, the feast is followed directly by the Autumn Ember Days – days of fasting and prayer in thanksgiving for the harvest (particularly the grape harvest that brings us the Precious Blood) and for the priests, without whom we would have no Eucharist.
On these days, I’m praying especially for Vocations in my own family – that God will call my children to the religious life. I’m also remembering my mother and grandmother, whose hospitality towards the priests in their community was a beautiful witness to me. Sorrowful Mother, pray for them.
Michaelmas and Mother Cover
As September turns to October we have the close of St. Michael’s Lent with Michaelmas, followed quickly by a run of Feasts for St. Jerome (September 30), The Protecting Veil of the Mother of God (October 1), our Guardian Angels (October 2), St. Francis (October 4), and Our Lady of the Rosary (October 7).
It’s almost overwhelming. This year, I’m focusing a lot on St. Francis. We’ll be celebrating the Franciscan feast of St. Francis receiving the Stigmata (September 17) and his Transitus on the night of October 3rd into the 4th in a special way to honor his 800th anniversary. In between those two Franciscan days, is one of my favorite devotions – the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God, or “Mother Cover” as she’s often referred to.
In the Icon of the Protecting Veil, Mary is shown with her cloak spread open, and beneath it are tiny people clustered close to their Mother like chicks under a plump hen. In many Slavic countries, Mother Cover is the protector of families going into winter – she makes sure there’s enough firewood to last, that all the quilts are mended, and that the pantry is full. Bustling and industrious, she looks toward the long nights ahead and helps her children prepare.
Cozy Nights
It’s comforting to have Christ’s own Mother to lean on in dark seasons – when we’re uncertain, when we’re grieving, when we’re stepping out over a new threshold into an unknown world. In some ways, every winter is an unknown world: the world shifts, the water freezes, and the nights stretch out long and dark until midwinter, when a Child is born to bring light into the world.
But Christmas is months away. First we have the twilight months with their crisp air and retreating light. Fall is a cozy, domestic season, when the Queen of Heaven comes down in her apron to help us tidy up before winter. Like my own mother, she’s willing to do the boring work – weeding, sweeping, and dusting off our messy souls – or she’s willing to just sit and pray with us before Christ. It’s a rich season, full of opportunities to be closer with Our Mother and to entrust to her our beloved friends and family – the living and the dead. Her cloak spreads wide enough to cover us all.
