Fall Moon

"Sing we now softly, and dreams let us weave him!
Wind him in his slumber and there let us leave him!
The wanderer sleepeth. Now soft be his pillow!
Lullaby! Lullaby! Alder and Willow!
Sigh no more, Pine, till the wind of the morn!
Fall moon! Dark be the land!
Hush! Hush! Oak, Ash, and Thorn!
Hushed be all water, till dawn is at hand!"

--The Elves' lullaby for Bilbo, from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit

Over all

As I was walking this afternoon, I saw a green and brown kaleidoscope of leaves blanketing the shallow waters of the creek. Autumn has returned; and while it seems as if it was only a few months ago, a year has passed since I last saw such a leafy picture below the little bridge. The words from an old sundial, some of my favorites, come to mind:

Time flies; suns rise; shadows fall.

Let time go by: Love is forever over all.

Our time on earth is finite, and all the more precious because it is limited. The idylls of our lives come and go, and the joys wax and wane. But each of us is here this very moment because Love wills it so. God is Love; and all that is good is from Him and of Him. He is Love, and Love is infinite. Seasons come and go as Love wills it; and everything good is before us. Let time go by:

Love is forever over all.

The Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi

"I beg you to show the greatest possible reverence and honor for the most holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom all things, whether on earth or in heaven, have been brought to peace and reconciled with Almighty God."

--- Words of St. Francis of Assisi in a letter to the priest friars on the Holy Eucharist

Saint Francis of Assisi, pray for us.