2 March 2025 #Godsforest

It’s the last Sunday in Ordinary Time before we enter into Lent, and the readings give us much wisdom to ponder. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I lived on my own little planet where everything revolved around me and not the Son. Sure, I knew the Son existed and shed light and warmth and Love on the world I inhabited, but he was so incredibly far away that he was easy to ignore. Even worse, I didn’t understand the dynamics of faith, the laws of human nature, or the physics of cause-and-effect. You know what else I didn’t understand? Trees.

Sirach writes that the fruit of a tree shows the care it had, the psalmist sings of cedars flourishing in the courts of the Lord, while Jesus speaks of splinters and beams and the way we perceive the world around us. Even St. Paul hints of the power of the wooden cross over death. The readings are all over trees.

You see, we often take trees for granted. They show up in forests and backyards and hang about next to rivers, and the only time we give them pause is when their leaves catch fire in the autumn sunshine, blinding us with their brilliance. And yet they’ve been nurtured by rain, raised by sunlight, and fed with the nutrients of things that have died before them. They “speak” to each other in the secretions they release, sending warnings of drought and infestations, sharing nutrients, and supporting saplings. And they have the ability to clear the air of dangerous poisons for the flourishing of all God’s creatures.

We’re an awful lot like trees. I’m wondering – as I prepare for Lent - how much care I’ve taken in nurturing my spiritual life. What does my fruit look like? Am I flourishing in the garden of my Lord? Do I open myself up to Sonshine of grace and accept that the rainy seasons are there for a reason? What do I see when I look in the mirror, beams or splinters?

When I speak to others, do I quietly and gently warn them of danger, share life-giving Word, and help the youngest among us know the Lord? How do help the flourishing of other souls? Do I realize that I am not the only tree in the forest, let alone a galaxy, and that I need the Son, the Faith, and Lent in order to build up the stores of goodness in my heart?

Ash Wednesday is this week. We’ll receive ashes on our heads to remind us that repentance is about dying to the darkness in order to live in the light, clearing out the soul of dangerous poisons so that we can shine with clear brilliance come Easter. Lent is hard work, to be sure. But as St, Paul reminded us today, “Your labor will not be in vain.” #Godsforest