In our reading today at Mass Second Isaiah says that God provides trees for the exiles making their way to Jerusalem from Bablyon. The way through the desert and mountains will be watered and a variety of trees will grow to cool them from the sun and sustain them night and day. The cedar, the acacia, the cypress, the plane tree and the pine– nature will serve them as they go on.
The afflicted and the needy seek water in vain,
their tongues are parched with thirst.
I, the LORD, will answer them;
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
I will open up rivers on the bare heights,
and fountains in the broad valleys;
I will turn the desert into a marshland,
and the dry ground into springs of water.
I will plant in the desert the cedar,
acacia, myrtle, and olive;
I will set in the wasteland the cypress,
together with the plane tree and the pine,
That all may see and know,
observe and understand,
That the hand of the LORD has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.
We have a wonderful variety of trees in our monastery garden here in Jamaica. I can count almost 40 different kinds. The most recent some apple trees, plum trees, maples, oaks, and evergreens. Trees will help us as climate changes in the years ahead.
“Learn from the fig tree and the other trees,” Jesus said. Like the human race, trees come in many sizes, shapes and colors. They’re all God’s creation, and so are we. We all belong; we all have our place here on God’s earth.
The Victor's Place 
TREES have a multitude of lessons for us. Here’s just one:
WHEN I AM AMONG THE TREES by Mary Oliver from Thirst(Beacon Press) When I am among the trees, especially the willows and the honey locust, equally the beech, the oaks and the pines, they give off such hints of gladness, I would almost say that they save me, and daily.I am so distant from the hope of myself, in which I have goodness, and discernment, and never hurry through the world but walk slowly, and bow often.Around me the trees stir in their leaves and call out, “Stay awhile.” The light flows from their branches.And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say, ”and you too have come into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled with light, and to shine.”
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Beautiful poem. Thanks
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