Jesus used nature imagery a
lot in his teaching. For example, as Fr. Eugene Hensell pointed out in our
retreat at Mount St. Scholastica, Jesus compared the kingdom of God not to a
majestic cedar of Lebanon but to a common mustard plant. Why? Jesus knew that we
expect the kingdom of God to be beautiful and majestic, and he wanted us to
understand that God’s grace is also available to us in the common aspects of
our lives, the things we take for granted, like mustard plants and scrubby trees
we’ve seen so often that we no longer notice them.
I recently read the book The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy,
in which a woman meditates on her life during her final weeks in a hospice. A
few days before she dies, she and a companion are sitting in the garden, when
her friend looks up at a tree and starts laughing. “Look at the branches. Look
at the leaves. When you really look, you see how fantastic it is. It’s so
perfect you have to laugh!” They sit, weeping with laughter, until her friend
wipes her eyes with her handkerchief. “Dear, oh dear. We really should sit and
laugh at trees more often.”
This scene made me think of a
quote by Rachel Carson: “Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find
resources of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.” Jesus spent the
last free moments of his life in a garden. Perhaps the beauty he found there helped
him access the resources of strength he needed to face the suffering that was
to come. When we are tired or struggling, we should go outside and contemplate
the sky, the trees, and the plants that surround us, for the kingdom of God is
closer to us than we think.
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