God’s green thumb

“The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the Lord and a day of vindication by our God. I rejoice heartily in the Lord, in my God is the joy of my soul; for he has clothed me with a robe of salvation and wrapped me in a mantle of justice, like a bridegroom adorned with a diadem, like a bride bedecked with her jewels. As the earth brings forth its plants, and a garden makes its growth spring up, so will the Lord God make justice and praise spring up before all the nations.”

By Sister Beth Fitzpatrick, O. Carm

I am the eldest of eight children.

About every two years or so, Mother would say, “Daddy and I have some good news: We are going to have a new baby!”

The anticipation began. When is the baby coming? Will it be a girl or a boy? 

Watching Mamma’s belly grow, we began to get ready for the new little one: making space (again) for the crib, checking the baby clothes to see which were still nice enough to use, choosing the godparents, planning the baptism and the party to follow. Those were months of hearty rejoicing. 

The four weeks of Advent are like that – rejoicing as we prepare to celebrate, once again, the birth of the Christ Child. How can we get ready? How can we make space for Jesus in our lives? 

There is so much happening right now. The coronavirus has brought so many changes in the way we go to school, play with our friends and visit with our grandparents. We ourselves may have gotten sick. The hurricanes disrupted our lives many times during the summer and fall. There was a lot of angry talk surrounding our presidential election. Sometimes life is so crowded we don’t notice the wonderful new life who is coming.

What to do?

This reading from the prophet Isaiah may provide a clue. Isaiah sees that new life, healing, freedom and justice come gently and surely as plants spring up from gardens.

When I was growing up, I loved being in our backyard. We had trees to climb and sweet-smelling vines on the fence. Once, I remember kneeling beside Daddy as he planted some rose bushes in the back garden. I was his helper with a little watering can. It pleased me so much when I noticed the roses blooming.

Maybe this Advent you could take a few minutes each day to look at the trees in your backyard, or plant some flowers and watch them grow. Trust that God is making good things grow in you as you prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus!

Mount Carmel Sister Beth Fitzpatrick is executive director of the Office of Religious, which serves as a liaison between the archbishop and men and women religious, third orders and secular institutes in the Archdiocese of New Orleans.