Chris McDonnell: April, come she will

The names of the months of the year are in themselves evocative of mood, climate, event and experience. Yet depending on where you live on our planet, the same month can have diametrically opposite associations.

One of my favourite Simon and Garfunkel tracks from the 60s has to be “April, come she will”, a simple four line, three verse song, whose lyrics are sung against the background of a single guitar. Quite beautiful. A Northern hemisphere song that traces a relationship through from April  – “come she will, when streams are ripe and swelled with rain”, through the changing Summer months till a conclusion is reached, and in “September I’ll remember / A love once new has now grown old”.

The cyclic pattern of life is ever-present, it is part of our very experience on planet Earth. From a starting point to a conclusion, with its high points of joy and hope through the inevitable troughs of despair and disillusionment, each of us makes a journey. We have to learn to accommodate different points of view, to be tolerant when it would be easier to be otherwise. April to September is a short time in song lyrics but a much longer time considered as a life experience.

It is the short term / long term aspect of the Church that we sometimes forget. We are deeply instilled with the ethos, practice and social culture of the late 20^th, early 21^st centuries and our focus is on immediate problems. In many ways, rightly so, for it is our responsibility to meet the needs and challenges of our time, but to do so in the context of faith. Indeed it is easy to experience “A love once new has now grown old”. So we can look back on our experience and that of our fellow-travellers and gain sustenance from that to continue to live in the hope of the Resurrected Christ.

Let’s be careful in the coming post-synodal months in the way we approach disputed questions remembering that an over-riding motif of this papacy is one of Mercy, not condemnation.

Here is a link to the song – April

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d54JYqXtt4

April come she will
When streams are ripe and swelled with rain;
May, she will stay,
Resting in my arms again.

June, she’ll change her tune,
In restless walks she’ll prowl the night;
July, she will fly
And give no warning to her flight.

August, die she must,
The autumn winds blow chilly and cold;
September I’ll remember
A love once new has now grown old.

Simon & Garfunkel

Words and music Paul Simon 1965

April 19^th also happens to be my baptismal date.

Early this month, the retired abbess of Colwich in the Midlands of England went to her reward. I wrote these few words in memory of a good woman whose smile and good humour  she shared with all who were fortunate enough to meet her. May she rest in the peace of the Lord.

Night prayer

“Remember that he loves you”

In memory of Mother Gertrude OSB Abbess of Colwich Stafford. April 2024

At night, I would ring the doorbell

and wait.

Wait for the rattle of the door catch

unlocking the heavy curved door

giving access to the sparse

space within.

Following a solitary black clothed nun

I accepted entrance to the bare bulbed hall way

and walked on towards the low-lit chapel.

Entering the silent chapel,

I found other huddled, 

seated forms,

settled deep in stillness,

        gathered together

        to share night prayer,

        until at the knock

        they stir and stand.

O God, come to our assistance

  O Lord, make haste to help us.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son

  and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning,

  is now, and ever shall be,

  world without end.

Back and forth

in responsorial form

The chant is taken up….

.. until

Canticle                 Nunc Dimittis

           Save us, Lord, while we are awake;

           protect us while we sleep

           that we may keep watch with Christ

           and rest with him in peace.

           Now, Master,

           you let your servant go in peace.

           You have fulfilled your promise.

           My own eyes have seen your salvation,

           which you have prepared

           in the sight of all peoples.

           A light to bring the Gentiles from darkness;

           the glory of your people Israel.

The Blessing given, one by one they leave,

with a smiled ‘good night’,

save for one diminutive form

to whose broad smile

was added

“Remember that he loves you”.

Chris McDonnell 18 April 2024