THIS is the forest primeval.
The murmuring pines and the hemlocks…
Evangeline by Longfellow
A friend of mine from Brighton came down to visit us not too long ago. She had never come to this area and had gotten a bit lost trying to get here. When she finally did get here she remarked to me several times how pretty our town was with all the trees and country roads. I just said… come back in a few weeks and your eyes will pop with the foliage!
We can look at fall foliage and think back to our high school biology class and know the leaves turn color as the tree shuts down its circulatory system in preparation for winter. The leaves turn color as they die and fall to the ground. Looking at foliage with a scientific eye is called “reason”. We can look at nature and through science we can explain away most everything. We can reduce our world to scientific equations and pat ourselves on the back for figuring it all out. But where does faith come in?
Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical, Fides et Ratio (Faith and Reason), states that faith and reason (or science) do not have to be opposites of one another and totally separate. God created the world and the cosmos to be understood and by understanding God’s creations we can come to know and appreciate God: through “all that is created the ‘eyes of the mind’ can come to know God (Fides et Ratio, no. 22).
In my previous profession I had the opportunity to look at life under a microscope. My schooling had taught me about cell structure, chromosomes, etc., but as I gazed into the nucleus of a human cell I would always find myself appreciating God’s creation and the complexities of life. So too when I gaze into a fall leaf tinted red or gold. I see, in the leaf, the face of God…
Another poem I had to memorize in school was the intro to Evangeline by Longfellow. I find just reciting the first line (quoted at the top) when I am walking in the woods (for real or in my mind) puts me in a contemplative mood. This month as you observe the changing seasons contemplate the challenge put forth by St. Augustine:
Question the beauty of the earth, question the beauty of the sea, question the beauty of the air distending and diffusing itself, question the beauty of the sky. . . question all these realities. All respond: "See, we are beautiful." …Who made them if not the Beautiful One who is not subject to change? (CCC no.32)
God Bless, Holly Clark
The murmuring pines and the hemlocks…
Evangeline by Longfellow
A friend of mine from Brighton came down to visit us not too long ago. She had never come to this area and had gotten a bit lost trying to get here. When she finally did get here she remarked to me several times how pretty our town was with all the trees and country roads. I just said… come back in a few weeks and your eyes will pop with the foliage!
We can look at fall foliage and think back to our high school biology class and know the leaves turn color as the tree shuts down its circulatory system in preparation for winter. The leaves turn color as they die and fall to the ground. Looking at foliage with a scientific eye is called “reason”. We can look at nature and through science we can explain away most everything. We can reduce our world to scientific equations and pat ourselves on the back for figuring it all out. But where does faith come in?
Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical, Fides et Ratio (Faith and Reason), states that faith and reason (or science) do not have to be opposites of one another and totally separate. God created the world and the cosmos to be understood and by understanding God’s creations we can come to know and appreciate God: through “all that is created the ‘eyes of the mind’ can come to know God (Fides et Ratio, no. 22).
In my previous profession I had the opportunity to look at life under a microscope. My schooling had taught me about cell structure, chromosomes, etc., but as I gazed into the nucleus of a human cell I would always find myself appreciating God’s creation and the complexities of life. So too when I gaze into a fall leaf tinted red or gold. I see, in the leaf, the face of God…
Another poem I had to memorize in school was the intro to Evangeline by Longfellow. I find just reciting the first line (quoted at the top) when I am walking in the woods (for real or in my mind) puts me in a contemplative mood. This month as you observe the changing seasons contemplate the challenge put forth by St. Augustine:
Question the beauty of the earth, question the beauty of the sea, question the beauty of the air distending and diffusing itself, question the beauty of the sky. . . question all these realities. All respond: "See, we are beautiful." …Who made them if not the Beautiful One who is not subject to change? (CCC no.32)
God Bless, Holly Clark
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