Some Thoughts on Gardening

 

The Spirituality of Gardening

 

Spring, according to the calendar, has been with us for a week now.  Mary has said her saving and self-less "yes" to God to bear his Son.  It is time again to think and act on new possibilities;  gardens to plan, soil to turn, water hoses to hook up to life-giving hydrants.  The frozen waters of winter are once again flowing at the merciful and forgiving breath of God.

 

Here in the Ozarks the annual late-winter ritual of burning brush and other dead vegetation is taking place.  This process rids the area of unwanted growth and also provides the stimulus and life-giving nutrients to dormant plants.

 

St. Bonaventure, writing of the spiritual journey in his LIGNUM VITAE (Tree of Life), uses the three-fold method of ascent (purgation, illumination, and union) which he describes as a means of reaching God.

 

As we friars continue to expand our own garden area, we, too, recently burned additional ground of unwanted plants, leaving the garden bare to new possibilities.  Reflecting on our endeavors, we become illuminated in seeing the garden as our souls being purged of winter stagnation and unwanted clutter that would prohibit our journeying to God.  It gives our souls a blank slate in which new "fruit" can grown and mature.  It seems we garden for our souls' sake.

 

This Lenten season, which the Church provides us every year, gives us that opportunity to begin again, to wipe the slate clean, to marvel at the humility of God, and to strive once again to find our way back to the Creator of all.

 

"The many great gardens of the world, of literature and poetry, of painting and music, of religion and architecture, all make the point as clear as possible:  the soul cannot thrive in the absence of a garden.  If you don't want paradise, you are not human; and if you are not human, you don't have a soul."  (last quote here from Thomas Moore,  The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life.)