Wildflower Garden

Being untouched so we can be cultivated by the divine Gardener

10/04/2018

Luke 10:1-12 Jesus appointed seventy-two other disciples whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. He said to them, "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this household.' If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you.

You probably know Pope Francis took as his pontifical namesake St. Francis of Assisi, the great lover of God’s creation. Inspired by St. Francis the pope wrote an encyclical on caring for creation called “Laudato si’” meaning “Praised be to You.” It is not man and woman alone who praise God, so too do birds and bees and flowers and trees. One section of the pope’s encyclical grabbed my attention, a delightful detail of how St. Francis directed his friars to keep the monastery garden. Pope Francis wrote: “Francis asked that part of the friary garden always be left untouched so that wildflowers and herbs could grow there, and those who saw them could raise their minds to God, the Creator of such beauty” (Laudato si’, 12). Now, that sounds like my kind of garden because I do not have a green thumb, I have a brown thumb (literally, my thumb is really brown), and I kill everything I touch. I tried to trim a crepe myrtle once and my friends called it “crepe murder.” Maybe even I could grow a wildflower garden.

I think St. Francis and Pope Francis are inviting us to reach back to that original garden, the Garden of Eden, where everything was planted by God and tended by the divine Gardener. In the Garden of Eden, all plants and animals were in a sense, wildflowers and wild beasts, because they were “untouched” by the interference of human hands and all creation perfectly and peacefully praised their Creator (laudato si’). The conductors of that symphony of creation was Adam and Eve, the crowning achievement of the Creator, and the wildest of all the wildflowers in God’s Garden of Eden. This original man and woman were also “untouched” – untouched by clothes (they were naked), untouched by sin (they were innocent), and untouched by Satan (the Seducer had not yet arrived on the scene). When Francis requested a portion of his friary garden remain untouched for wildflowers, he was trying to re-create a mini-Garden of Eden on earth, and St. Francis himself would be like the new Adam, trying himself to live untouched by clothes, sin and Satan. Indeed, that is the definition of a saint.

Jesus always lived in these two gardens: the Garden of Eden untouched by human hands, and the Garden of Earth that has been spoiled by sinful human hands. Our Lord touches the world with a green thumb that generates growth and goodness, but we touch the world with brown thumbs motivated by greed and gain that causes decay and deterioration. Jesus instructs his apostles to evangelize with very curious conditions. He insists: “Behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandal; and greet no one along the way.” I believe our Lord wants the apostles to relive the innocence of the Garden of Eden as much as possible in this world, like St. Francis untouched friary garden. So, they must divest themselves of money, clothes, sandals, and even contacts with others. They must, like our Lord, always have one foot in the Garden of Eden, while the other foot is planted in the Garden of Earth. As much as possible, they must be like Francis’ untouched friary garden and live without clothes, sin and Satan. As a result, they will not only be saints but they will touch that original source of all grace and goodness and growth as they are cultivated by God, the divine Gardener.

May I suggest a few ways we can set aside a little portion of our own friary gardens (our lives) to be untouched save only by God’s hands? First, you might actually follow St. Francis’ example and exhortation and create a little wildflower garden at home. But don’t ask me for advice, please consult your local master gardener. Second, set aside time, perhaps ten to fifteen minutes daily, for quiet contemplative prayer. No Scripture, no rosary, no spiritual reading, so that your soul, untouched by anything human, and like the Garden of Eden, may have God alone as your Master Gardener. God will cultivate insights and inspirations that were routine and run-of-the-mill for Adam and Eve. And third, try to live simply – like the apostles and early Christians – divesting yourself of money, clothes, sandals, and even a little less contact with the world. While we have one foot in the Garden of this Earth, we must make every effort to keep the other foot in the Garden of Eden, and imitate the first man and woman, who were entirely untouched by clothes, sin and Satan.

Let me leave you with Joyce Kilmer’s lovely poem called “Trees.” Kilmer was doing with words what St. Francis did with his friary garden, that is, seeing how all creation praised its Maker, and how nature does that better than fallen man. Kilmer wrote: “I think that I shall never see / A poem lovely as a tree. / A tree whose hungry mouth is prest / Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast; / A tree that looks at God all day, / And lifts her leafy arms to pray; / A tree that may in summer wear / A nest of robins in her hair; / Upon whose bosom snow has lain; / Who intimately lives with rain. / Poems are made by fools like me, / But only God can make a tree.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!