Once I started my walk, I took up my rosary and began praying the Joyful Mysteries. There was barely anyone around, and even if I came across people on the trail, I wasn't distracted by them passing through. The trail led along the Conestoga, so the running water was my companion for most of the way. The water flowing gently over stones in the river and the whispering of the leaves disturbed by light breezes helped to calm my mind and focus on the mysteries I prayed. It was amazing how my thoughts went deeper and deeper into the mysteries as I walked the trail and gazed at my surroundings. At one point, I stopped at a foot bridge to listen to a small waterfall rush down a narrow tributary into the river; at another, I sat down on a large stone along the river's bank and continued to pray, watching the water eddy and swirl as it steadily make its way downstream.
Eventually, the path led me away from the river and up along a hillside, where the trail wound and snaked through trees already losing their leaves. The sound of the river started to fade, leaving me with the wind's whispers and sighs. Near the end of my rosary, I stopped and turned around to backtrack to the bottom of the hill and to the river bank, where I made my way back to where I started.
I was amazed once again at the amount of grace that flowed from just being in nature. The beauty of my surroundings contained in the sights and sounds of creation directed my soul to God and to praise Him. There were many moments in my life when this happened, even as a teenager when I went into the woods and the gully in my backyard and found myself thinking of God while consumed in my surroundings. On this hike, it reminded me of a more recent memory when I took a mission trip with my parish this past summer to the Lakota Indian Reservation at Pine Ridge, South Dakota.
On the first full day, we took a tour of the reservation, and part of the tour consisted of a scenic drive through the Badlands. At an unplanned stop on a rough gravel and dirt road, we got out of our vans and ran out into a section of the Badlands that contained towering buttes covered in fine dirt, boulders, and stubby grass, shrubs, and wild flowers. The teens that were with us (and some of the adults, too) proceeded to climb up the side of the closest butte. I got part of the way up, and then came back down (I guess you could say I chickened out), but then I went around the other side and decided to try my luck at climbing up there. I picked my way around the rough grass and loose dirt as the incline gradually got steeper. I didn't chicken out this time, and I successfully made it to the top.
Suddenly my breath was stolen from me as my eyes beheld the magnificent vista spanning for tens of miles in all directions.
I was speechless, both verbally and mentally. No words could describe the elation I felt at standing on top of this butte that was probably one hundred or more feet high. After a few moments, I came to my senses, and finally, all I could say out loud was "Wow" and "This is incredible" and "I can't believe this", and when these pitiful few words and phrases were exhausted, I found myself lifting up prayers of praise and thanksgiving to God for allowing me to see such splendor. My soul was carried away, and I could no longer here the laughter and voices of the handful of teens and adults that were there with me. My senses were consumed by my surroundings, with the hot sun shining high in the clear blue sky, the wind swirling around me and whistling by my ears, and my eyes drinking in the slow, 360-degree panorama I took with the camera of my mind. I could not stop thanking God for the beautiful moment, and it continued to be that way for the rest of the trip. Of course, I couldn't stay on that "mountain top" all trip, and we all had to climb, slide, and sprint down the side of the butte to the bottom.
God's creation is good; He proclaimed all that He created as good. We should not love these created things for what they are in and of themselves, because we would be putting them before God. Instead, we should allow them to guide our thoughts, minds, hearts, and souls to the One who created them. St. John of the Cross would spend countless hours contemplating nature outside of his window at the monastery he stayed in, because his soul became enraptured by God and the power and beauty displayed in the creation around him. The same could also be said of St. Francis of Assisi. The saints can be our examples, but we do not have to be saints to appreciate the world we live in and be amazed by it. We can find God in all things, and let us do so for His glory! So, next time you go for hike, just think of the love God gave in creating all those wonderful things!
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