40 Crosses for 40 Days: 24th Cross - The Palm Tree Cross

I found this handmade cross at a shop in St. Augustine, Florida. It is a perfect visual embodiment of the Mass readings for today.

The first reading, in which the prophet Ezekiel retells one of his visions, proclaims:

The angel brought me, Ezekiel,
back to the entrance of the temple of the LORD,
and I saw water flowing out
from beneath the threshold of the temple.

Along the bank of the river I saw very many trees on both sides.
[The angel] said to me,
"This water flows into the eastern district down upon the Arabah,
and empties into the sea, the salt waters, which it makes fresh.
Wherever the river flows,
every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live,
and there shall be abundant fish,
for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh.
Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow;
their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail.
Every month they shall bear fresh fruit,
for they shall be watered by the flow from the sanctuary.
Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine.
(Ez 47:6-9, 12)

This is an excerpt called 'The Wonderful Stream," from the book of the prophet Ezekiel. It's related to Ezekiel's famous vision of dead, dry bones coming back to life, when God restores scattered bones by giving them His own breath, giving His own life, back to the people of Israel individually and as a community.

The reading today focuses on water, instead of bones. It relates how a certain, specific river will leave the Temple and run through the land, bringing an abundance of fruit and shade, eventually joining with the sea. The water in this stream will cause living creatures to multiply, and each month trees will bear a certain fruit. This is an image not only of peace, but also of order, in that the fruit trees bear fruit at certain times and not just whenever, all higgledy-piggledy. This is an image of paradise, of a coming transformation promised by God and prophesied by Ezekiel. It will be fulfilled by Jesus the Christ, who replaces the Temple in Jerusalem with the Temple of His body, from which life-giving water will flow.

Jesus is the Living Water who makes all things new. Just like the cross above shows, the Living Water will produce fruit trees that bear fruit abundantly, providing both food and medicine, replacing the barren dryness of the desert, bringing new and eternal life to all who will drink it and be rooted in it.

Let us pray: Holy Trinity, we thank You for the beautiful descriptions of the world you intend to create, and of the transformation You intend to bring about. Help us to draw close to the Living Water this Lent, so that we may be like the fruit trees and bear abundant fruit, and our desert may become like a fruitful orchard. And in all things, let us praise You. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.