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Ezekiel 17:24 –
4 All the trees of the field shall know
that I am the Lord.
I bring low the high tree,
I make high the low tree;
I dry up the green tree
and make the dry tree flourish.
I the Lord have spoken;
I will accomplish it.
2 Corinthians 5:10 – 10 For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil.
Psalm 92:12 –
12 The righteous flourish like the palm tree,
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
Mark 4:26-27 – 26 He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, 27 and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.
I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him. We do want to know him, don’t we? After all, he knows us better than we know ourselves, and since he created us to know him and to love him and to serve him, oughtn’t we too “come to know him?” Of course, we all know the answer to that; we must put everything we have into knowing him more and more even though we understand that we can’t really completely know or understand the God of all Creation. In fact, sometimes we find ourselves mighty frustrated by our efforts to know him and to love him and to serve him. In Deuteronomy 6:4-9, source of the Shema, we read in verse 5 – You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. How? Many times when we talk about the Majesty and Power of God we hear the word “ineffable” – beyond description, undefinable, exceeding our capabilities of perception. There is more to God than we can handle, more than we can understand, more than we can appreciate, and way more than we can imagine in our puny earthling brains.
But there you have it; we’re earthlings (remember, made from dirt?), and from the very Start, we always try to figure it out for ourselves. I’m sure all of us know at least one person who has invented their own image and likeness of God and used that image to come up with their own religion, their own explanations of what’s what. Joseph Campbell found extraordinary success by gathering together mythologies and “belief systems” from the most ancient cultures to the most modern gurus and “life-influencers.” Often some of us (alright, me in particular) grouse about “CAFETERIA CATHOLICS” (especially politicians, sports and cinema celebrities, and even clergy!). These self-professed Catholics have their own formulae for fitting God into the box they create for him. As if! We’re going to look into some of those pathetic DIY “spiritualities” and see if God has a way to work outside our boxes.
“Oh, I’m a very spiritual person! I believe the Universe returns to you exactly what you put into it.” Cool. But by now, you and I know that is like a broken pencil – pointless and therefore useless. There are some very spiritual persons who take a little astrology, a smidgen of Buddhism, maybe a dollop of Ancient Druid Magick, and blend it all together to create rituals from their personal intentions and appetites. The resulting phantasmagoric pish posh apparently makes them feel happy because they will self-righteously defend their ignorance by redefining Truth: “What’s true for me may not be what’s True for you.” Come on! Really!? Is it ever possible that there is more than one Truth? (↔ Learning Link for “As Frank Peretti has said,”) Belovéd, we know there is only One Truth (at least we’d better know!), and that Truth is knowable. Learning the Truth is worthwhile and doable. Believing the Truth is actually easier than believing our made-up baloney sandwiches. (If we’re going to live on baloney, why not make a meal of it?)
But those of us who know the B.I.B.L.E. also know that whatever goes on, into, out of, or next to our lives, God has an Absolutely Perfect Plan (THE APP) for ALL of it. Where we get tripped up so often is when we look at that APP, and say something like, “Hm. I really think he meant that little part there should look more like (rustle, biff, bop, ka-ding!) THIS! Our Key Verses for today are chosen to counter that sort of nonsense. 
The Prophet Ezekiel authored the first of our Key Verses. This is the Period of the Exile when King Nebuchadnezzar captured and deported the King of Israel, Jehoiachin, and Ezekiel is describing how God’s Absolutely Perfect Plan will ultimately restore the People to their homeland and their Temple. But, first he will allow everything he had given them to be destroyed and desecrated. Nevertheless, the restoration will be directed and accomplished by God, not by them. God will do what needs to be done (as he has done, and will do, eternally). They made up their own way to worship and it was false. It was sinful. It was deadly, because … the price of sin is death. God uses the images of trees to convey that he alone can choose what to restore and where and how it will be restored. Then, he follows up with I the Lord have spoken; I will accomplish it. ʻŌmea, if God created all the universe with just a few words, then we should be able to understand that what God speaks happens. Everything from radiolarians to roses exist because of him. Could any of us make either of those?
Who can make a flower, (↔ Music Link) or the dewfall, or a caterpillar, or a mustard seed, or a walking fish, sunshine, rainbows, polliwogs? Who can make manna, win a battle with only 300 soldiers fighting against a vast army, heal the lame and mute and blind? Who can give us seed for sowing and bread to eat? Who can anoint a Conqueror as an implement of Peace? Who has given us YOLO-F and allowed us to choose where we spend it? Shouldn’t we be following The Shepherd of Souls (↔ Music Link) instead of our own grimy imaginings? How do we share the Gospel, the Seeds of Truth? Adelphoi, there’s an APP for that! Our assignment is to gather the seeds and then sow them. And just where are these seeds? In the manual for the APP of course – the B.I.B.L.E. And how do we control what those seeds do? We don’t! It’s in the manual: “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, 27 and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.” There’s no DIY hack for that, no genius solution to turn baloney into fillet mignon. I mentioned recently the “well-maybe” reasoning – “well, maybe it works like this instead of that.” Hear what the Prophet Isaiah had to say about that:
Isaiah 45:9-10 –
9 Woe to you who strive with your Maker,
earthen vessels with the potter!
Does the clay say to the one who fashions it, “What are you making”?
or “Your work has no handles”?
10 Woe to anyone who says to a father, “What are you begetting?”
or to a woman, “With what are you in labor?”
I remember a time in Washington Park in Denver watching a man fixing the playground carousel. He pulled some odd-looking tool out of his tool-bag and I asked him, “What’s that for?” “Oh,” he said, “it’s to make little boys ask questions.” The lesson I learned from that response is still one of the most important things I ever learned: Stupid questions deserve stupid answers. Now, before that big breath you just sucked in causes your baloney sandwich to explode with “There are no stupid questions! Every question is a learning opportunity!”, I’ll just ask you to decide whether or not it makes sense for the clay in the potter’s hands to protest and question the potter about his intent, or arrogantly suggest a better way to use that clay. How about asking a mom in labor, “Whatcha doin’ there, Mama?” Yet, we don’t mind one little bit about opening our God-box and saying, “What’s going on in there? That’s not what I had in mind!” In my mind’s eye I can see our Father in Heaven just shaking is head. I can also see him reaching for the Operators’ Manual and pointing out the Shema … again.
“Maybe it’s like …” Nope. It’s like – 12 The righteous flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Just like that low tree made high, God will do what is right and in accord with his Absolutely Perfect Plan, not mine, not yours, not ours, not theirs – only God’s. I want to quote one more thing from Fr. Jim Sichko’s Mission, #60MIN4JESUS. (↔ Learning LinkS) “Where the world sees failure, God sees future. Trust that God will provide it, then wait for it quietly.” Do we, can we, believe and trust God when he tells us I the Lord have spoken; I will accomplish it?
By now I am confident you understand that that old maxim “Let go and let God” is more than just a clever turn of phrase. It’s actually a warning to avoid Do-It-Yourself Religion which leads to Do-It-Yourself Salvation. Ain’t happening, adelphoi. Another old adage that sticks with me is “There is an answer for every question in the universe. Unfortunately, many of those answers make no sense whatsoever.” That’s where we sometimes jump right into the sausage grinder and come out baloney. We say, “God’s answer makes no sense. That’s not what I wanted at all. God didn’t get it right, this time.” O-o-o-o-oh, brothers and sisters! Talk about not making any sense! We are clay, shaped by and for the potter. WE don’t tell the potter, “I don’t want to be an amphora! I want to be a teacup.” Why are we clay? DOH! God used the clay he created to form the earth from which he made earthlings, and he made earthlings so he could fill us up with his treasures. 2 Corinthians 4:7 – 7 But we have this treasure in clay jars, (↔ Music Link) so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. In earthen vessels, “whom all the world cannot contain comes in our hearts to dwell.” (↔ Music Link) Does that make any sense? Of course it does! It’s in the APP. 1747AFC112415 – DDIY (←Follow this link) and you will find more information about DDIY – Don’t Do It Yourself. One more quick illustration – dew.
Can we make the dewfall? You’ve heard about manna, so here’s something to think about. Exodus 16:13c-14 – … in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14 When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. Then Jesus told us: John 6:51 – 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.
The Bread from Heaven comes upon us quietly, evenly; it refreshes us and renews us in the same way that the dewfall renews and refreshes the land. In the first Epiclesis in the Canon (Eucharistic Prayer 1) and the remaining three Eucharistic prayers we hear the Priest pray for the coming of the Holy Spirit on the gifts we offer – the bread and wine. He says, “Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray, by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall.” This recalls for us the manna [1] in the desert – quiet, mysterious, not overbearing, not weighty, always just enough, never leading to a surplus, but always refreshing, invigorating, and nourishing. Can we make manna? No. Can The Bread of Life be confected at the Altar? Yes. And it becomes Holy as quietly and effectively as the dew comes to water and nourish the land. God does everything in his Absolutely Perfect Plan – every day, all day – for us because he Loves us. All he wants from us is to share the Bread and to leave the baloney and all the condiments away from it. He wants to feed us what we need more than he wants to give us what we want. Whatever there is we need, there’s and APP for that. whatever there is we want might come along to us – if it’s in his Absolutely Perfect Plan. Rejoice in what we have. Count the blessings, (↔ Music Link) and let God be God – One Truth, One Bread, One Body, One Love Released. (↔ Music Link)
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
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[1] Hebrew: mana See Psalm 78:24 and Exodus 16:15 – man`ə in the manner of “What is this?” Israel ate of the manna for 40 years until they ate the first fruits of the Promised Land.
