Wednesday of the Fourth Week
In the garden, on a gorgeous day in July, when the plants are cranking out flowers and fruit and the insects are humming and the smell is divine, we could forget the garden emerges out of all of these individual elements coming together as one.
And while we can’t take full credit for it, we can take some–were it not for us, these garden beds wouldn’t have been prepared in April. Were it not for us, these individual seeds would not have been planted, and later, they would not have been cared for.
But if we become too attached to ourselves as the sole actor, the only ego worth caring for in our daily rounds, the garden will suffer. If we only tend to our desires for instant gratification, we couldn’t do the work on those cold days in May that will lead to flowers in June. We need to tend to the Wholeness if we want any success.
The 20th Century mystic Thomas Merton wrote of a “hidden wholeness”; that binds all creation. In the Gospel, Jesus says, “The Son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing.”
We could imagine extending the popular phrase to be “What Would Jesus Do… in the Garden?” I think we could expect him to experience himself not as controlling and dominating the garden for his own selfish desires, but instead participating in the garden as part of a divine dance between Himself and the elements.
May I recall that I’m not who I think I am–I’m much more.
May I rejoice in the opportunity to serve others in the One Great Garden.
Trevien Stanger, ’05, M.S.
Ecological Restoration Program Manager,
The Patrick ’61 and Marcelle Leahy Institute
First Reading: Isaiah 49:8-15
Psalm 145:8-9, 13cd-14, 17-18
Gospel: John 5:17-30
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