Seasons of the Soul by Blessed Concepción Cabrera de Armida (Conchita) is one of the most profound and realistic guides to the spiritual life ever written. Using the metaphor of the four seasons—spring, summer, autumn, and winter—this Mexican mystic and mother of nine (1862–1937) reveals how God gradually transforms the soul into Jesus Christ by teaching it to love like Him.
Rather than presenting holiness as a simple upward climb, Conchita describes the spiritual life as organic, cyclical, and divinely orchestrated. As she explains, “Conchita envisions that the spiritual journey of the soul lives, grows and thrives with the same rhythm, predictability, and certainty, as do the seasons” (vii). Just as nature cannot skip winter or remain forever in spring, the soul must pass through seasons of consolation, purification, fruitfulness, and apparent desolation. Yet Christ Himself governs each season, for “in just the same way that the seasons of nature pass before and through the sun, so too do the seasons of the soul pass before and through the Son” (viii).
Like St. Teresa of Ávila, who leads us through the Interior Castle, and St. John of the Cross, who guides us up Mount Carmel, Conchita leads us through the seasons of the soul. Her great insight is that growth toward God requires not only ascent but descent, for “Conchita leads us to embrace the vision that an ascent to God necessitates a descent into the winters of hardship and silence” (vii). The spiritual life is not a straight line upward, but a divinely guided cycle in which God teaches the soul to love through joy, suffering, fruitfulness, and purification.
🌸 Spring — The Season of Awakening and First Love
Spring is the soul’s first awakening to God. It is marked by fervor, attraction to prayer, sweetness, and new life. Conchita describes how “the soul experiences springtime in the beginning… when the Lord provides consolation and a very powerful attraction to virtue along with a very great facility for practicing it” (3). The soul enters “an atmosphere that is perfumed… and strolls among the flowers beneath a cloudless sky… the sun is warm, the light is dazzling and the heart swims in a heavenly milieu,” such that “in that stage, all smiles in the spiritual life; nothing is hard” (3). Prayer feels effortless. Virtue feels joyful. The soul is captivated by God’s beauty.
Yet spring is delicate. Conchita warns that even in this beautiful season, dangers emerge, asking, “How many worms… how many caterpillars and weeds fight to grow among such beautiful flowers” (6). These represent spiritual pride, judgment of others, and attachment to consolations. The soul may begin to love the sweetness of God rather than God Himself.
Spring is therefore not meant to be permanent. Conchita exhorts the soul, “Let us accept then this springtime not to build our nest there, but as a point of departure… Let us respond to the generosity of a heart of fire with the fire of a heart which wants to burn… not among the flowers but among the thorns” (12). Spring awakens love—but love must deepen through sacrifice.
☀️ Summer — The Season of Testing, Heat, and Purified Love
Summer arrives when the sweetness of spring gives way to heat, dryness, and testing. Conchita describes the shock of this transition: “Can we not imagine the surprise of the soul when springtime ends for her and she finds herself… under the rays of a burning sun and in an unknown environment?” (16). The soul begins to see spiritual life more realistically, allowing itself to be formed through trial and surrender.
Summer is the longest and most difficult season, for “summer is usually the longest period of the interior life, the hardest and the most difficult. It is the development of the soul in the spiritual life, the shaping and substance of all the virtues” (19). Prayer becomes dry and requires perseverance, for “prayer during the summertime is dry and arduous; only by sheer willpower does the soul remain at prayer” (22). Discouragement becomes common, and “discouragements are the most common hindrances in the summer, and to love suffering amounts to a triumph” (22).
Yet this suffering has a purpose. “Summer is the school of the saints,” and those who refuse its lessons “will remain half-done” (21). Beneath the burning heat, Christ Himself is being formed within the soul, for the mature fruit that develops “is Jesus Himself, into Whom she is transformed!” (19). Summer purifies love, teaching the soul to love God not for consolation, but for Himself.
🍂 Autumn — The Season of Fruitfulness and Crucified Love
Autumn is the season of maturity and fruitfulness. After enduring summer’s trials, the soul now bears lasting fruit. Conchita writes, “In the autumn of the soul, the fruits ripen… The soul then has the colour and taste of Jesus since the transformation into Him is complete… The soul is a living Cross… her sap is suffering and she smiles in the midst of it” (29). The soul begins to radiate Christ, drawing others not to itself, but to Him, for “it is not the poor creature that contains this virtue of attraction, but Jesus in her… Jesus, heavenly attraction, divine and most holy perfume” (30).
In autumn, the Cross is no longer feared but loved. “The Cross then is the dream, the delight, the treasure and the life of this soul in love,” and the soul embraces it passionately because it finds the Beloved in it (35). Conchita describes the soul crying out with joy, “Amplius, Domine! … More, Lord, more,” longing “to love more, to suffer more” (35–36). Love has matured into complete self-gift.
❄️ Winter — The Season of Purification and Perfect Love
Winter is the most hidden and misunderstood season. It appears barren, yet it produces the purest love. Conchita describes how “there is no greenery, no flowers, nor even fruit, but everywhere only snow, ice, frost,” and yet “these frosts kill all the earthly microbes of the soul… and keep the soul in her frigid state, so that the spring might afterwards be more exuberant” (44). Winter strips away attachments and purifies love completely.
God permits these deep purifications because “the soul is purified and advances more… than she might in a thousand years of voluntary sacrifices” (43). In winter, love reaches its greatest purity, becoming “the most durable, the purest, the most intense,” even to the point of loving God without consolation, without reward, and without self-interest (43–44). Conchita even calls winter beautiful, explaining that “winter is beautiful in a courageous and vigorous soul,” because the Holy Spirit prunes and shapes the soul into the form of the Cross (45).
Though winter feels like death, it prepares the soul for deeper life.
The Goal of Every Season: To Love Like Jesus
The purpose of every season is not merely spiritual progress, but love—learning to love like Jesus. Spring awakens love. Summer purifies love. Autumn matures love. Winter perfects love.
The soul must learn to accept each season with trust, praying with Conchita, “Lord deliver us from wanting to change winter for spring, summer for autumn… He knows the place and method that is best for us” (46). Holiness does not come from controlling the seasons, but from surrendering to God within them.
Review: Why This Book Is a Spiritual Classic
Despite its brevity, Seasons of the Soul is a spiritual powerhouse. It explains why the spiritual life includes both consolation and desolation. It reassures souls in dryness and suffering. It gives meaning to seasons that feel barren and confusing.
Conchita’s message is deeply consoling. You are not regressing when prayer becomes dry. You are not failing when God feels distant. You are simply in another season.
And in every season, God is teaching you how to love like Jesus.
Prodigal Catholic 
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