With the reopening of schools, and the scent of pumpkin spice everywhere, our thoughts are quickly turning to the Season of Autumn. I have heard many people comment on how this is their favorite season of the year. Perhaps this is the case because the kids are going back to school, cooler weather is the norm, or maybe it is because Autumn marks the beginning of football season. Whatever the reason that Autumn is our favorite season there can be no denying that it is a season of change.

       

    Shorter days, cooler nights, and the rainbow of colorful leaves on the trees remind us that summer has come to an end. The falling of these leaves and the dormition of many of our summer plants and flowers also signals that we have entered a time of change. Some will lament that fall is just a season to get ready for another harsh winter, but this attitude, unfortunately can cause us to miss the beauty of the season.

 

            It is odd that so many people would claim a season that is all about change as their favorite season. We are, for the most part, not a people or a culture that tolerates change well. We like routines and we like to stay in our comfort zones. Change interferes with our routines and forces us to dwell in discomfort. Over the course of many Autumns, and really all the seasons we develop practices and habits that quickly restore our routines and return us to our comfort zone.

 

            When Jesus calls us to conversion, to turn away from the bad and to do the good, he is not simply suggesting that we develop new routines for a new season. Instead, when Jesus calls us to holiness, he is more than suggesting that we need to be ready to change our entire lives to follow him. Jesus is calling us to boldly wander far from our comfort zones so that we can become all that we were created to be.

 

            This new season of holiness, if you will, means that instead of putting ourselves first we are generous with our time, talent, and treasure. We do not use our gifts simply to make ourselves comfortable but instead make sure that the hungry are fed, the homeless have a place to lay their head, and the sick and afraid are comforted. When Jesus calls us out of the season of ordinary into the season of extraordinary, he is calling us to, like the leaves of Autumn, reveal our true colors and, with the intensity of these colors to reveal the length and breadth of God’s love and mercy for each of his beloved children.

 

            Jesus’s call to conversion, however, is not just for a season. Instead, Jesus calls us to holiness and extraordinariness every day. Jesus calls us, in every season, to embrace our crosses, to embrace the grace of the Holy Spirit and to follow him to eternal life in paradise.  Ultimately, Jesus’s call to conversion is a call for us to return to the perfection and holiness that was ours before the sin of Adam and Eve.

 

            Throughout the Church year, we encounter seasons, namely Advent and Lent, that conjure up in us a time of conversion, of penance, of change. Some may wait for these seasons to more intentionally and deliberately accept Jesus’s invitation to turn away from the bad and to embrace the good, and this is indeed a noble commitment but can also become just part of our routine. Embracing the changing of the seasons of the environment as a reminder that we are  called to be the best versions of ourselves that we can be, is a wonderful way for us to constantly go beyond our routines and to escape our comfort zones. Committing to conversion in every season means that we can respond joyfully and without reservation to the call to holiness and extraordinariness.