This reflection was written by Jeroham Meléndez for this week’s Wingèd Ox, a weekly news digest distributed to the college community. You will find reflections from previous weeks here.

One of the things we appreciate most about living in Montreal is how distinctly we experience each of the four seasons and how each one shapes us culturally, socially, economically, and even emotionally.

In Spanish, the word for “season” is “estación” (station). Although it’s not unique to us—it’s also used in regions like Burgos and León—in Costa Rica, we say we have two “stations”: the rainy station and the train station, which explains why I pay particular attention to it here.

The commercial world paints each season with colours and themes, while in cinema, the colours of each season often accentuate the ambiance, mood, and world of the characters according to their dramatic arc. But this attention to season is best seen in nature itself, especially in autumn. In the church, we follow a similar rhythm with the liturgical calendar.

Colours, activities, and temperatures remind us of the cyclical nature of our existence. Our lives, routines, and even our thoughts and moods can shift with the season. In Anglo-Saxon America, I’ve learned that academic terms are almost indistinguishably matched with the season in which they begin.

The passing of time, combined with memories, often stirs in us a feeling that past times were somehow better—this, we call nostalgia. In nostalgia, we frequently associate events with certain seasons: “When I was a kid, every fall we would…” or “Every summer, we used to go to…”

Though I’ve only been here two years, I know I’m already affected by it. In the end, it all leads me back to a cycle of tasks, whether in work, school, family, or social life. The warm palette of colours that autumn brings sets the tone for a season when we exercise gratitude, appreciating the many ways God blesses us. Today marks two months since the term started, and we are moving quickly toward the year’s final stretch. It’s a time for preparing and setting our sights on goals and accomplishments, even as we each carry our unique hopes, longings, or reflections on what lies ahead. Whether we feel the weight of distance, the ache of missing loved ones, or the excitement of new possibilities, each season, in its way, brings us a breath of renewal, inviting us forward into what comes next.

Antonio Vivaldi masterfully set to music poems depicting the scenes and emotions of each season in his world. I wonder, if we were to represent the seasons today, how would we do it?

Now, as the air grows colder and the trees shed the last of their leaves, we stand at a threshold between autumn’s warmth and winter’s chill, entering a time of reflection. It’s a reminder of life’s cycles—endings that lead to new beginnings. In this season, we are invited to turn inward, to embrace both the beauty and challenges of change. As followers of Christ, we can find comfort knowing that with each new cycle, God offers grace and renewal, guiding us forward with hope, through every season of life.

Sincerely,

Jeroham