Word to the Wise
Friday, August 22, 2008 - The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary
[Ezekiel 37:1-14 and Matthew 22:34-40]Son of man, can these bones come to life? I answered, "Lord God, you alone know that."
There are many wonderful and vivid images from various visions in the Bible, but it's hard to beat Ezekiel's "Valley of Bones" vision. Years ago (in the days of B&W TV - so you KNOW it was long ago) I was watching the Morning Show with Dave Garroway. The Baird marionettes and puppets were a regular feature. They managed to bring together a skeleton piece by piece on the screen to the tune of Tennessee Ernie Ford's rendition of "Dry Bones" which was a hit tune then - Them bones, them bones, them dryyyy bones...Now heaaaar the word of the Lorrrrrrrd! I watched with utter fascination! Ezekiel seems to take it in stride. His comment is "How dry they were!" Ezekiel's image referred to the exiles in Babylon. "They have been saying, 'Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost, and we are cut off.'" I hear that message a lot from members of religious orders. It is a tough scene for so many of them who have not had a new member in many years. For some, the image of the dry bones is all too appropriate. Part of the sadness comes from the realization that when the bones are restored, it will not be the same. It was not the same for those who returned to Israel from Babylonia. The glorious days of David and Solomon were memories. To entertain the hope that the Lord offers through Ezekiel: "O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them, and bring you back to the land of Israel," means to be open to a whole new possibility. On a personal level, some of us go through the "dry bones" experience. We fear what the new "dispensation" will be. Can't God just bring things back to where they were prior to 1962 and the beginning of the Second Vatican Council? It doesn't look that that is God's plan. It may be frightening to hear God say, "Can these bones live?" when we aren't so sure they can. Perhaps the best we can say is what Ezekiel says, "Lord God, you alone know that." And live with it! AMEN
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