‘Tis the season, my friends. If you live anywhere besides Arizona, the air is crisp and the leaves are changing. Maybe, like me, you’ve had your fair share of pumpkin chai to celebrate. And maybe, unlike me, you’ve never thought about whether or not Fall is Catholic. The Fall, originally, was not a good time for humanity but can we find redemption in this season now?
So I have a challenge for you: Give me a word, ANY [fall themed] WORD, and I will show you how the root of that word is Greek…I mean, Catholic. Okay? Let’s go.
Pumpkin Chai
Pumpkin chai – chai – Chi rho – the first two Greek letters for the word for Christ are chi & rho. Boom. Catholic. There you go. Next.
Squash
Squash. You know who squashes? Mary. Mary squashes the head of the serpent.
Cinnamon
Cinnamon. Hmmm, well…Jesus takes the sin of man and makes it smell nice. Sin of man, cinnamon. Catholic.
Caramel
If you did not immediately think of St. Therese of Lisieux, I don’t know if we can be friends.
Caramel – Carmelites – St. Therese. While the Carmelite sisters did not really invent caramel (yes, I googled that with great hope!), caramel was invented by a French confectioner, thereby making caramel a Catholic word.
All Spice
All spice – much like the saints on November 1st, we can’t pick just one.
Apple Picking
Apple picking. Whoa now! Careful! Make sure you only pick from trees that don’t have snakes around them. Also, word to the wise, if a snake asks you what God told you, just walk away.
Clove
Let’s get Biblical!
Clove – past tense of cleave; as it says in Genesis 2:24: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife.” Doesn’t get any more Catholic than that.
Jack-o’-lantern
Jack-o’-lantern, a light to those in the night. A pumpkin set on a porch cannot be hidden. Nor do they carve a pumpkin and put it under a basket – that might be dangerous. The pumpkin is set on a porch, where it gives light to all those who pass by. Just so, your pumpkin must shine before others, that they see your fall carvings and give glory to the Heavenly Father.
Hint: Matthew 5:14-16
And lastly, Fall
Shout-out to all my New Englanders reading this…
Fall – The Fall – if classical art is any indication, fall is the reason we need leaf peeping.
Happy Fall, y’all!