PHOTO: Mary van Balen Along the bank of the river I saw very many trees on both sides. Wherever the river flows,every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live,and there shall be abundant fish, for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh. Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow…
Ez 47,7;9
Therefore we fear not, though the earth be shaken
and mountains plunge into the depths of the sea.
R. The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.
Ps 46,3
The water that feeds the river in the first reading comes from the sanctuary and restores arid land to fertility. What lives in the water and what grows on its banks will never fail. God is its source.
The responsorial psalm speaks of disasters. While the images used are meant to represent all types of calamities, verse three brought the recent earthquake and tsunami to mind.
One reading presents an idyllic picture of fecundity and peace. The other, destruction beyond imagining. What do they have in common? The Presence of God.
Divine generosity is easy to see in the first: life, abundance, and in later verses, food and medicine. God’s Grace is more difficult to comprehend in the second. Why would the earth shake to its depths and mountains tumble into the sea? Where is God in the midst of death and destruction?
The eyes of faith see what physical eyes miss: God is With Us always, as promised from old, as manifest in the birth of Jesus, and as celebrated in his death and resurrection.
God’s faithful Presence is not obvious when we look from places of suffering and despair. During those times we must draw on faith, on recalling God’s walk with us in times past. “Therefore, we fear not,” the psalmist sings. No matter what happens, God is our refuge.
Our Lenten practices are meant to open the eyes of faith, to strengthen our faith. In the midst of his agonizing death, Jesus wondered aloud why God had abandoned him. Still, he died with faith, handing his spirit over to the God he could not feel or see, but whom he trusted to be there to receive it.
© 2011 Mary van Balen
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