From the Garden to the City

In the beginning of creation (Genesis 2), God breathed into Adam and he came to life.  Then God planted a garden and placed Adam in the garden to care for it. 

In the beginning of God’s new creation (John 20), Jesus breathed on His disciples and told them to “Receive the Holy Spirit.” 

Is there a correlation between these two accounts of God breathing upon men?  Was Jesus creating men to tend His Vineyard?  Adam was given the task of cultivating the garden.  Were the disciples given the task of cultivating a new garden?  

 God gave Adam dominion over everything in the garden.  Jesus told the apostles, “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”  (yet another one of those verses that I never heard in a Sunday morning sermon outside of Mass.)  Is this a form of dominion that the apostles were given?  The parallels are striking to me.

At the beginning of the Old Testament (Genesis 2), we see the garden with a tree of life and a river flowing out of it.  At the end of the New Testament (Revelation 22:1-2) we also see a tree of life and a river.  Both of these passages are so much more meaningful when read in the light of the Gospels which are the cornerstone of the Scriptures and a silken cord tying together the Old and New Testaments, bringing the meaning of each together.

In the Gospel accounts, we see a garden (John 19:41) and a tree of life with water flowing from it.  The tree of life is Christ crucified from whose side water and blood flowed (John 19:34).    

The Church is like a garden.  In the middle is the Tree of Life and that Tree bears the Most Precious Fruit–the Eucharist.  Revelation 22:2 mentions a tree of life that bears 12 kinds of fruit.  Perhaps this represents the 12 apostles on whom Jesus breathed and “they bear fruit with seed in them after their own kind” (Genesis 1:12).   

There is a river that flows out of this garden (the Church) just as there was a river that flowed out of the garden of Eden and just as water flowed from the side of Jesus on the cross.    Jesus gave the Church the waters of baptism so that we might “wash our robes,” eat from the tree of life, and enter the city of God.

Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city (Revelation 22:14).     

Come and Have Breakfast

Imagine fishing all night and catching absolutely nothing.  Then at dawn, a Man appears and tells you to cast your net on the right side of the boat—and suddenly you have more fish than you can even lift into your boat.  Miraculous indeed! 

After pondering yesterday’s Gospel reading from John 21, I wondered what my response would have been to this miracle.  John was the first to recognize that this Man was Jesus.  But I love Peter’s response.  He does not wait until the boat reaches the shore but instead jumps in the water and swims to our Lord.  Jesus tells Peter to bring the fish that they have caught and then says, “Come and have breakfast.”  And yet again, our Lord feeds His disciples Bread.   

My prayer is that Jesus would make us all fishers of men and bless our fishing attempts  by giving us a miraculous catch of fish.  I pray that the net will hold fast so that not one of those fish are lost and all are brought to the Table.  May eyes open to recognize the Lord and may souls be eager to jump into the Tiber and swim to Jesus who is waiting for us all to come to the Table and have breakfast.

He Was Recognized in the Breaking of Bread

Luke 24:13-35.  Yet another passage of Scripture that I never heard preached outside of Catholicism.  Sure, I was encouraged to read the Bible through at home.  But never was this passage emphasized in any way in a Sunday morning sermon (or a Wednesday night one either!).

When I read this now, it seems to me that these guys are so excited and amazed that they at first did not recognize Jesus.  It was only at the table when He broke the bread that they recognized Him!

  

So much time is spent on trying to find deep and hidden meanings in the passages of the Book of Revelation.  And yet, there are so many very straightforward and simplistic passages in the Gospels that are either quickly glossed over or worse yet, distorted in a way to render them insignificant.  I suppose if you have chosen to distort or ignore Jesus’s Words, “This is My Body,” then you must also ignore the Gospel story of the Road to Emmaus or see it as just a mere historical detail with little meaning for us today.

Dear Jesus, open the eyes of all people to recognize Your presence in the breaking of the Bread of Life.

Father all Merciful,
let those who hear and hear again
yet never understand,
hear Your Voice this time and
understand that it is You
the Holy of Holies;
open the eyes of those who see and see,
yet never perceive,
to see with their eyes this time
Your Holy Face and Your Glory,
place Your Finger on their heart
so that their heart may open
and understand Your Faithfulness,
I pray and ask you all these
things Righteous Father
so that all the nations be
converted and be healed through
the Wounds of Your Beloved Son
Jesus Christ; Amen.

prayer taken from True Life in God