Tonight as evening was upon us our son Asher bounded into the house announcing that there was a double rainbow outside. He and I hurried outside. The second rainbow was just fading but the first remained bright across the sky. We marveled at the beauty and Asher (age 11) did his best to capture the moment with some pictures. We decided to take a walk, camera in hand.
There was also a breathtaking sunset also before us. The colors were magnificent and the views were changing by the second with the brightest colors slipping behind trees. We kept following the sun as it dipped lower and the colors could be seen as glimpses between houses. We realized that the brightest colors were in the direction of the Church. We began to walk faster to try to reach the Church before the last bit of light was gone. As we got to the Church there was just a bit of light coming from behind the Church. The doors of the Church were locked. But an idea came. We could still have a visit to the Blessed Sacrament as the Tabernacle was by a wall of stained glass. As we approached the wall of stained glass from the outside we could see the candle inside the Church next to the Tabernacle flickering. There was Our Lord so close to us in the Tabernacle. As the light outside was fading a light remained in the Church...though small and flickering we could see it. There was a cobblestone rock ledge along the stained glass outside and so we sat to rest with Our Lord.
Tonight is the eve of the longest day of the year in the Northern hemisphere. Tomorrow will be the summer solstice. It is a day my mother looks forward to all spring but when it comes she becomes a bit sad as the days become shorter again. Tonight on the eve of the longest day of the year our feelings seemed juxtaposed to the experience of watching a fleeting rainbow and the last rays of a brilliant sunset. Time is going by very fast. We are on a journey and our time like a sunset is going quickly even though we may feel we have a long, long time to go.
Let us make good use of our time.
