NATURE NOTES
September:
September 1st. – October 4th. – the ‘Season of Creation’,
an ecumenical initiative
that aims to increase awareness among Christians
of the need to protect our common home.
It runs from Sept. 1st. to Oct. 4th.
Feast of St. Francis of Assisi,
patron saint of animals and ecology.
Let us all Pray and Work to take care of the creation on our doorsteps!
August
Knock is no stranger to rain in August – and our moor-hens love it!
Nature still delights us no matter the weather.
However, our hearts go out to all who suffer from extremes
of heat or floods across our broken world.
Stream at the bottom of our grounds
July
July brings a flurry of fruit picking and jam-making, as well as – Bees, Honey and Roses!
We have renamed these beautiful flowers
‘Living Flames’
after St. John of the Cross’ poem.
They arrive on time for all the great Carmelite feasts in July!
They blend beautifully with the Orange Blossom and Poppies to provide fitting flower arrangments for the Chapel and house.
June arrives with the lush colours of Summer, Swallows, and Flora in plenty!
Our Summer paths delight us
and the rabbits (and nuns!) are hiding among
the rocks and wild Flowers!
Spring
By Christina Rossetti
Frost-locked all the winter,
Seeds, and roots, and stones of fruits,
What shall make their sap ascend
That they may put forth shoots?
Tips of tender green,
Leaf, or blade, or sheath;
Telling of the hidden life
That breaks forth underneath, …
Another mild winter surprised us with Spring growth
which we usually do not see in the West of Ireland
until very late March or early April!
The birds are singing and
the Magnolia will be in full bloom way before Easter.
Even in a war-torn and broken world, nature offers our souls respite
and the promise of glory to come.
It is very hard to believe that we last updated our nature notes in October – and it is now February!
We got Covid 19 during November with ten of us laid low
and all of us were isolated in our monastic cells.
It was surreal and we are still ‘catching up’ on things.
Where December and January went,
Nature-Note-wise is a puzzle!
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