Gematria Sky Party – Blog

It feels more like winter than autumn lately as we approach the “Christmas season”. As crazy as it sounds, the Retail Christmas season starts in September 😬… people start seeing decorations on the shelves and say to themselves “too soon man!” Then after Thanksgiving it ramps up. Ya know, the consumerism, extra traffic madness, and running the emotional gauntlet between elation and depression as we drift towards winter… Now it is officially December. It is easy to forget that Christmastide is actually December 25 to January 5. I bookend the house Christmas lights between the day after Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. No judgment however passed on the eager beaver neighbors that start right after Halloween or those that keep their tree up until Easter for whatever reason lol.

So I came across something the other day that felt good. That something was found after having curiosity on a word. That something was finding an idea and meaning. I figured, “why not write about this.”

A Godson of mine will soon be participating in his Kairos retreat. I found out that Kairos is a Roman Catholic idea, actually a Jesuit based one that started back in 1965 as an adult retreat but has been adapted for teenagers. I mentioned the Jesuits purposefully as I will detail a little bit more later. I never experienced a Kairos retreat but it sounds like a nice few days for a highschool senior to reflect and think about how we act with God. The word ‘act’ is appropriate because the word kairos (καιρος) means time with a sense of action. It’s related to another Greek word for time, Chronos (Χρόνος) but kairos has the action flavor to it. In modern Greek it is a word meaning ‘weather’ or ‘time’. Another meaning is ‘season’… which makes perfect sense because of the element of time with changing weather.

Back to the Jesuits. What seems apparent is a nice synthesis. I will briefly explain: In Christian theology, kairos means “the appointed time in the purpose of God” or the time that God acts. Think about how that is like a season, which is precisely a meaning of kairos…. In each year the four seasons cycle through.

To support this idea, we can look at the practice of assigning numbers to letters, e.g., gematria. This example of kairos uses Greek Isopsephy. The word καιρος sums to 401. Naturally there are 4 seasons in every 1 year!

Further, the motto of the Kairos retreat is “Live the Fourth,”… The retreat lasts four days; a 4 in 1… The last day of the retreat is the fourth and first day of the rest of your life. Another takeaway is connecting with the four seasons as we revolve around the Sun. I.e., we are reminded to live and have action with God throughout the 4-part cycle which we call a year.

Kairos is based on a structured 4 weeks of “spiritual exercises” designed by St. Ignatius, but the “weeks” are not 7 day weeks. Again, one can see 4 in 1 or 401. And one can get a sense that St. Ignatius used the four seasons as a guideline of his exercises:

The 4 Spiritual Exercises: 1st Summer, 2nd Autumn, 3rd Winter, 4th Spring. In this light, Living the Fourth can be described based on the fourth week. It’s your personal, spiritual Spring to then set out upon the world.

We can find meaning and purpose in our lives by appreciating the characteristics of each season. Each season has a metaphorical and spiritual side. I will give my basic, brief Christian, analogous view: Spring is a time of new beginnings and rebirth; Summer is a strong season full of growth thanks to the power of light of Jesus and God; Fall is a grateful time for the harvest and thanksgivings; Winter is a time of dormancy – much needed rest and contemplation.

Well, regardless of what faith you follow, I hope the imposing craziness that coincides with the holiday season will be balanced with joy and love… and rest!

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