Tuesday, November 29, 2016

New Life from What Looked like a Dead Stump

Today’s first reading, Is 11: 1-10, opens with the statement that “[o]n that day, a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom.”  Ordinarily when we see a stump in nature we think of a dead tree. We do not expect anything to grow out of it.  What I ask you and me, has “died” within us and is now like a dead stump yielding no new life? Has a relationship gone dead, so to speak, because of lack of contact or because of a past offense or because of selfishness, jealousy or anger that has gripped our soul? Has my faith and trust in the Lord and in my loved ones or self become dormant, as a tree stump?

Ever seen new life growing from a tree stump or from a potted plant you thought dead? The same can happen with virtue within you and me. That which seems dead can come back to life with a little TLC (loving tender care). My patience, faith, hope and love—if seeming to have died or withered—can grow again with the right conditions, namely, taking time to “exercise” them.  Wilting relationships can become strong if I take time to nurture them.  Practices that energized my spiritual life will be strengthened if I take the time to engage in such activities as spiritual reading, meditating upon the Scriptures, participating in Sacred Liturgy (the Mass) and sacraments,  taking time for personal prayer, sitting in God’s presence looking at God with love and letting God lovingly gaze upon me;  praising God as I seek God in the solitude of my heart, in the beauty of nature, in the refreshing love of a friend (if you are married, in the love of a spouse or a child; enjoying one another ‘s presence with no expectations, delighting in each other).


What do you or I  need to do to bring forth life from that “stump” or from that “potted plant” we thought was dead within us?

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