Take a Fall Prayer Walk with Fr. Ron

Walking through nature’s cathedral

By Fr. Ron Will, CPPS

My calendar said that it was the official first day of fall, as I was preparing to go for my daily walk. I decide to make it a “prayer walk” and not just a walk for exercise. I invite you to join me on my walk and get inspiration for your own prayer walk, noticing God, by really paying attention to sights and sounds.

Before I take my first step on the trail, I stop, take a deep breath, and consciously invite the Holy Spirit to help me notice God around me during the next 30 minutes.

Some of the tree leaves have just a slight tinge of changing color. It makes me anticipate what is to come more fully, expectations of beautiful fall colors.

As the wind blows through the leaves, it reminds me that the Holy Spirit breathes through me. It reminds me of the poem by Sr. Joyce Rupp, “Instruments of God”:

A small, wooden flute,
An empty, hollow reed,
Rests in her silent hand.

It awaits the breath of one who creates
song through its open form.

My often-empty life rests in the hand of God:
like the hollowed flute,
it yearns for the melody
which only Breath can give.

The small, wooden flute and I,
we need the one who breathes,
we await one who makes melody.

And the one whose touch creates,
awaits our empty, ordinary forms,
so that the song-starved world
may be fed with golden melodies.

I invite that same Holy Spirit to breathe through me to make God’s words beautiful for the people I encounter, especially while celebrating Mass and preaching.

As I walk through the park, there is a metal sculpture in the form of a giraffe, with cocked head, looking down at each passerby. The giraffe is appreciating God’s unique creation in each passerby.

There is crispness in the air, a crispness that makes me anticipate the future cooler days.

I pass a firepit off to the side of the trail with benches in a circle around it. I imagine youth sitting around it in the evening, telling stories and maybe roasting hot dogs or marshmallows.

I pass a hopscotch grid painted on the pavement, I pause and imagine children playing on it after school later today. As I stand there a woman, older than me, goes jogging past me at a swift pace. She reminds me that energy is not confined to youth. Good health is such a gift from God. I pause and thank God for my own ability to walk pain-free, compared to an experience that I had several months ago when I had severe hip pain.

I thank God for my good health now, as I remember a friend of mine, lying right now in the hospital because of a recent stroke. I thank God more intensely for my own ability to be up and about.

At one point the trail leads me through a heavily wooded area. I notice squirrels in the woods gathering nuts in anticipation of the next season, a long cold winter.

I notice a bat house in one of the trees. I remember that there are more than 1,500 known bat species in the world. I marvel at God’s great variety in all his creation.

The trees give me a sense of walking through nature’s cathedral. The sun shining through the trees causes shadows and light spots creating its own impression of stain glass windows.

That elderly lady-jogger whizzes by me again, coming from the opposite direction. Thank you, God!

Two dogs on leashes are eager to explore the undergrowth along the trail, but their owners pull them back onto the trail. So much for their chance to explore!

A young woman is walking toward me pushing a stroller. As she gets closer, I am expecting to see a baby. But there is a dog in the stroller! What? What laziness is this?

Another young woman walking ahead of me is so busy talking on her cell phone that I think she is totally missing the beauty of nature and the experience of God around her.

Some leaves are already starting to curl and will probably fall to the ground before too long.

As I reach the end of the trail, I pause to thank God for this experience, and pray a “Glory be to the Father …”

Now I invite you to take your own “fall prayer walk” during these beautiful days. May you have your own experience of God.

[Fr. Ron Will, a Precious Blood priest and spiritual director, is a graduate of Catholic Theological Union and Creighton University’s School of Christian Spirituality. He has a special interest in helping form intentional disciples of Jesus, encouraging others to go spiritually deep-sea diving to explore a deeper relationship with God, and walking with people as they dive into the ocean of God’s mystery experiencing God rather than simply dipping one’s toe into the water.]

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