And Another Ending . . .

On Saturday we come to another ending. The first of December this year marks the ending of our current Church Year.
Ever since, this final day of our year takes me back in memory to 1990. And looking back to that year, I notice that the final day of the Church Year then was also December 1, just like this year!
So why does the final day of the Church Year take me back to 1990?
That's the day I "discovered" it!
And since then, every year I find myself anticipating it.
1990 was the year I spent the time from September to the end of November on sabbatical in Rome. I had taken the long route into Rome, figuring that I would make the most of this opportunity.
I was able, while still in the States, to purchase a couple of Eurail passes. I put one away for my return journey to the States at the end of the sabbatical.
With the other pass I went from Paris in mid-August to Marseille and along the French Riviera to Nice and then on into Rome. Took the scenic route.
When the program ended, I began the long journey home, again traveling by train to Milan and then to Geneva, Switzerland. There was more to come - Lyon and then back to Paris - but the last day of the Church Year I was in Geneva.
And it was freezing cold!
I had to buy a warmer coat to survive. That I clearly remember.
And on the morning of December 1st, the final day of the Church Year, in the Office of Readings, part of the official prayerbook of the Church, I came to the final words of the final assigned reading for the year.
I am sure that I had read those words any number of times over the years but in 1990 on that final day of the Church Year those words leapt out at me and struck me and have stayed with me from that time to this. That year I "discovered" those words. Each year since as we approach that final day of the Church Year, I anticipate those words yet again.
They are words from a sermon by St. Augustine. They are words about singing in the midst of our journey through life.
His words begin, "Let us sing alleluia here on earth, while we still live in anxiety, so that we may sing it one day in heaven in full security."
And his words, Augustine's final words as we bring a Church Year to a close charge us like this, "Keep on making progress. This progress, however, must be in virtue, for there are some, the Apostle warns, whose only progress is in vice. If you make progress, you will be continuing your journey, but be sure your progress is in virtue, true faith and right living."
And those final words - "Sing then, but keep going."
What a powerful way to end the year.
What a beautiful way to turn toward the new Church Year.
Those words, every year since that one in Geneva, have reminded me that in all that life has to offer, in the good times and the bad, there should be an "Alleluia" in my heart.
Should I wonder Who made those words strike me so powerfully that day?
Need I wonder?
I don't think so.