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By Chris Quilpa

It’s springtime! It started March 20, the Third Sunday of Lent. Such a relief to/for all of us who have been under months of cold, dreary, snowy, wintry weather. Thank God, we’ve endured and persevered wintertime. Thank God, we’re alive and well, and becoming active and moving forward, and busy again.

When you see green leaves of trees, budding twigs of branches of bushes sticking out, dandelions with their yellow bright flowers catching our attention on the verdant ground, with fresh flowers blooming and fresh green grass on the unmowed yard (front and back), it’s springtime!

When you hear the chirping birds actively hopping from branch to branch of trees, singing in unison as they delight themselves in the bright, warm sun from the East, you’ll know it’s springtime!

When you feel the warmth and glow of the smiling sun penetrating through your window, filling up your room with positive energy making your house clear and bright, you know it’s springtime!

When mercury rises gradually and consistently while the sun rises over the horizon to clear blue sky, most of the time, thus making temperature go up, prompting more people to get out and keep busy and moving, you’ll surely know it’s springtime! 

When Daylight Savings Time is mentioned in the media world, reminding us to spring forward one hour of our clock or timepiece or watch, it’s springtime in the Northern Hemisphere!   

There’s hope and new life, beauty and joy and peace…in springtime. Signs of spring are everywhere…with morning showers, a little fog and then clouds eventually disappear once the sun is up, smilingly ready to rule the land, there’s no doubt, spring is everywhere…

In shopping malls, supermarkets, and grocery stores, colors of yellow, blue, and green are prominently displayed. Easter lilies, daffodils, dandelions, tulips, crocus, cherry blossoms, cute little flowers in our lawns, front and backyards, birds flocking around the yard, pecking something on the ground and the open fields, or hopping from fence to fence, from one tree to another, and in the mountains and hills covered with grass, wildflowers while the golden sun is up above the clear, azure skies—what a sight to cherish and behold! Ah, nature is so beautiful, colorful, wonderful!

As our life-world undergoes changes and challenges, there’s renewal, revival, and rejuvenation everywhere…There’s that feeling of freshness and vivaciousness! After all, spring is a time of growth and renewal, the time to spring forth, to rise up, stretch out and spread that body that has been kind of “lifeless” in a cocoon for months of cold, wet, and stormy, snowy (at times) weather!

While the Christian world is observing Lent, with its challenges and practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, amidst an ongoing war in Ukraine (but hopefully and prayerfully fading or ending, like COVID-19 pandemic, we believe), we see hope and new life emerging. We see not only a glimmer of hope but a new day, a new beginning, a new life filled with hopes and dreams for a better, safer world.

When the time comes for Easter on the horizon, we are filled with joy and we rejoice in the belief of Jesus’ resurrection. His resurrection should also be our resurrection to a new life with a changed heart and mind, and soul, a new you and me, full of vigor and vitality, and a growing, blossoming spirituality in service to God’s glory.

This spring, we hope and pray that COVID-19 pandemic is gone or  eliminated. Likewise, we pray together that a breakthrough in peace talks, diplomacy, and negotiations is achieved by leaders involved in the Ukraine-Russia conflict. We continue to pray together for an end to this “war” in Ukraine. Moreover, for us Catholics, we continue to pray the Holy Rosary and our novena or devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary for the salvation of souls and conversion of Russia to Christianity. 

On a lighter note, I’d like to share with you, dear folks, my poem, “The Cool Spring”: When the sun is up/ And the sky is clear/ There’s warmth all over/ There is no more fear.// As the land turns green/ And our vision’s keen/ Everyone’s excited/ Happy and committed/ To get out and moving/ To welcome the cool spring.// While the sea is inviting/ To beachlovers cavorting/ We hear the sweet sounds of spring/ Welcoming the renewal/ The beauty and revival/ Of good living and loving.// We see flowers blooming/ Leaves of trees sprouting/ Birds chirping and singing/ Butterflies fluttering/ While busy bees buzzing/ Humming new life in spring!

Certainly and undoubtedly, there’s hope and new life, beauty and joy…in spring!

Take care, folks, and stay safe always! May God bless us all always. Peace out!

CHRIS A. QUILPA, a retired U.S. Navy veteran, lives in Suffolk, Chesapeake and Portsmouth. Email him at chris.a.quilpa@gmail.com.