March 20/Second Thursday of Lent
He is like a tree planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season, and whose leaves never wither! ~ Ps 1.3
A few years ago we planted a citrus tree in our garden. It was in a sunny spot and, thanks to the faithful ministrations of the Constant Gardener, aka my husband, the tree received plenty of water. The first two winters after its planting were mild, so we were puzzled that the tree was not producing fruit. Not a single orange was to be found on any of its branches. But we (by whom I mean the Constant Gardener) maintained our faithful care, pruning and watering and tending, and this year, the tree absolutely groaned with fruit. Today our psalmist compares the blessed person to a tree that will yield its fruit “in due season,” which means in God’s good time. Results from our efforts to grow spiritually may not happen as quickly as we would like. Our prayer may feel dry and unproductive, God is nowhere to be found, and we are stuck in a kind of spiritual discouragement or desolation. It is then that we must double down, as my husband did in the garden: with people, as with plants, it may take time for true flourishing to occur. The great spiritual writer and priest-theologian Henri Nouwen wrote in his Genesee Diary, “One of the experiences of prayer is that it seems that nothing happens. But when you stay with it and look back over a long period of prayer, you suddenly realize that something has happened.” Dry spells invite us to renewed constancy and fidelity, not to capitulation. It is hard to trust God when we feel stuck. But those are the precise moments when we must call on whatever perseverance, constancy, and fidelity we have, knowing that we will experience the fruitfulness of God’s love, in due season.
Almighty God, Lead me to your life-giving water, and grant that I may remain there always. Amen.
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032025.cfm
To hear I Cantori di San Marco sing “Beatus vir qui non abiit,” by Andrea Gabrieli, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lShiWAF6XxA
