Memorial of Saint John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church

Lectionary: 184

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 


"Let me help you." "No let me do this!" 
How often does this scripted conversation occur in our interaction with others? 
Here is the opportunity to collaborate, to share a project, address a challenge, and accomplish a deed together but the ego intervenes to sabotage the moment. 
The companionship, friendship or partnership might have been thrilled by the success of collaboration but had to settle for something less. 
"I will help you!" says the Lord who often appears to our strength in his weakness. My friend Father Urban Wagner used to say, "God is so considerate; he will never interrupt you while you're speaking." Nor does he intervene when we're determined to do things our own way. 
But when our best efforts collapse and we lie facedown in the mud of catastrophe he again comes alongside, bearing that too familiar cross on his shoulder, and says, "I will help you." 
Nine times the Lord says in today's first reading "I will" and then concludes with, "That all may see and understand that the hand of the Lord has done this." 

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,

Here is a familiar crisis and an unfamiliar answer. The Lord references water, rivers, bare heights, fountains, valleys, desert, marshland, dry ground, springs of water, cedar, acacia, myrtle and olive trees. The Lord is talking about ECOLOGY! 
Can I offer a hand? Would you accept some help? Have you thought about prayer, discernment or reconsidering this strange notion of "progress"? 
Given that the United States is a major source of contamination; given that we know we're the problem, and we know what must be done; and yet we do not change our ways: our only hope is divine intervention. 
It happens -- and often -- but never over our objections. However, as more Christians, Jews, Muslims, Native Americans and so forth begin to pray from our helplessness, acknowledging that we cannot change our self-destructive ways, our ways will change as God's Spirit moves in us. 
Millions of people prayed throughout the Cold War and it did not erupt in a Third World War. It could have and might have but didn't. Instead, the unexpected and unpredicted happened; the Soviet Union disbanded. Obviously that was not "the end of history" as some thought, but it was a reprieve for which we're grateful. 
Future generations will look back on this era, recalling their great-grandparents and our prayers and give a sigh of relief as they realize how narrowly we escaped massive destruction. Some will read history with the eyes of faith and declare:

By the Lord this has been done; it is wonderful in our eyes.