The trees will clap their hands.

The mountains and hills will sing praise to God; all the trees of the forest will clap their hands, for he is coming, the Lord of a kingdom that lasts forever, alleluia.

The Church, in The Liturgy of the Hours, offers us this beautiful antiphon for meditation on the First Sunday of Advent in the Year of Our Lord 2008. Yet there do exist persons who downplay the truth and beauty of Scriptures such as these, claiming they are just metaphorical, or even questioning the inerrancy of Scripture itself.

My friends, I ask you, “Why can’t we say that the trees clapped their hands (branches)?” Forget that irrational modern empiricism which says that only observable data can be true. Use your God-given imagination. How do you know that the trees weren’t able to clap when all was new and Adam, and with him all creation, was in the state of Original Justice? Were you there? It is definitive Church teaching that Adam sinned and as a result every human being was changed in a negative way. This change, or fall, was reflected in nature and all creation—including the trees. Perhaps before Adam sinned, they could clap, or maybe they were so alive with God’s creative power that they at least seemed to us to clap with joy as they did their movements completely in conjunction with a loving and almighty God. Face it: We are dull. We don’t fully comprehend reality and we don’t love God and neighbor as we ought, because we have a fallen (yet redeemed) nature. Furthermore, we are selfish and we don’t love as we ought. If we would only use our imagination and our heart along with our knowledge, then the world would be much better. We would see the trees clap their hands in obedience to an all-good, all-powerful Father. We would love our brother. We would see the redemption of all creation before our very eyes!

Yet we must not forget the second part of the antiphon. Wouldn’t it be right for the trees to clap for the righteous Adam? For then he was king of all creation—by God’s decree (Cf. Genesis 1). But if it was right for the trees to clap when Adam was righteous (in the state of Original Justice), then it is even more right for the trees to clap for the New Adam, the true King of the Universe, Jesus Christ, the King whom God the Father has anointed with the Holy Spirit.

Certainly, J.R.R. Tolkien would have agreed with all the above, for his Middle-earth was so much like the world of the Bible.

In Tolkien’s world, nothing in nature is dead but all is alive, so much so that modern readers will call this cosmos “magical”. A better word is “biblical”. In Tolkien’s cosmology, the earth as well as the heavens is not dumb but declares the glory of God” [Peter Kreeft, The Philosophy of Tolkien: The Worldview Behind The Lord of the Rings (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2005) 85].

Give Thanks to God; Pray to End Abortion!

"The Dark Tower has fallen, and there is a king in Gondor." -Frodo Baggins

On this day when the people of the United States of America give thanks [hopefully] to God, it must be providential that the prayer of the Church, The Liturgy of the Hours, has Psalm 81, in which we proclaim God's fidelity and love for his people.

O that my people would heed me; that Israel would walk in my ways. At once I would subdue their foes, turn my hand against their enemies. . . . But Israel I would feed with the finest wheat and fill them with honey from the rock.

We can truly replace the word "Israel" with "America" or "the world's peoples" because, in establishing his Church, Jesus the Christ has extended the Covenant to all peoples. O, if only we would heed the Lord's voice and thus let Jesus and the Culture of Life reign in our hearts. Then our foes (Satan and his pro-death minions) would be subdued forever. Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever!

St. Martin of Tours: Humble Hobbit Hero

A hobbit hero is small and lowly and considered not likely to do anything great in the eyes of the world. Yet the hobbit hero trusts in God, who makes him able to do great things. In Middle-earth, Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin are hobbit heroes. In our earth, hobbit heroes include the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Peter, St. Joan of Arc, St. Therese, St. Faustina, and many others. St. Martin of Tours was a hobbit hero. We find a moving account of his heroism in today's Office of Readings:

Martin knew in advance the time of his death and he told his brethren that it was near. Meanwhile, he found himself obliged to make a vistiation to the parish of Candes. The clergy of that church were quarreling, and he wished to reconcile them...
He spent some time in Candes, or rather in its church, where he stayed. Peace was restored, and he was planning to return to his monastery when suddenly he began to lose his strength. He summoned his brethren and told them he was dying. All who heard this were overcome with grief. In their sorrow they cried to him with one voice: "Father, why are you deserting us? Who will care for us when you are gone? Savage wolves will attack your flock, and who will save us from their bite when our shepherd is struck down? We know you long to be with Christ, but your reward is certain and will not be any less for being delayed. You will do better to show pity to us, rather than forsake us."
Thereupon he broke into tears, for he was a man in whom the compassion of our Lord was continually revealed. Turning to our Lord, he made this reply to their pleading: "Lord, if your people still need me, I am ready for the task; your will be done."
Here was a man words cannot describe. Death could not defeat him nor toil dismay him. He was quite without a preference of his own; he neither feared to die nor refused to live. With eyes and hands raised to heaven he never withdrew his unconquered spirit from prayer. It happened that some priests who had gathered at his bedside suggested that he should give his poor body some relief by lying on his other side. He answered: "Allow me, brothers, to look toward heaven rather than at the earth, so that my spirit may set on the right course when the time comes for me to go on my journey to the Lord." As he spoke these words, he saw the devil standing near. "Why do you stand there, you blood thirsty brute?" he cried. "Murderer, you will not have me for your prey. Abraham is welcoming me into his embrace."

With these words, he gave up his spirit to heaven. Filled with joy, Martin was welcomed by Abraham. Thus he left this life a poor and lowly man and entered heaven rich in God's favor. (-from a letter by Sulpicius Severus)