The Tree of Life

Details: 09 March 2012

In the book of Leviticus the Lord God said to Moses, "Say to all the congregation of the people of Israel, You shall be holy; for I the Lord am holy" (Lev 19:2). After saying this, the Lord God then directed Moses to entreat the Israelites to keep the Ten Commandments. Notice God implored His people first to be holy and second to keep the commandments. This is an important point, for keeping the commandments does not magically make us holy but only when we become holy can we keep the commandments even in our hearts.

That said; the Israelites were at a disadvantage because of the rebellion of our first parents. Let us be reminded that there were two important trees in the garden mentioned in the first chapter of Genesis, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 2:9). Most of us remember the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and forget the tree of life. After God created Adam He said, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it you shall die" (Gen 2:17).

Our first parents were created with the very life of God in their souls, called sanctifying grace. This was the fruit of the tree of life, in which they had free access. When our parents disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they were banished from the garden and the access to the fruit of the tree of life. They lost divine life within their souls, their most precious gift, and their ticket to heaven. This sad and sorry state is something we inherit from our parents, a graceless and lifeless condition of the soul called Original Sin.

Thanks to Jesus Christ, the New Adam, we now have access to the tree of life once again. After Jesus died on the tree of the cross, blood and water flowed from His pierced side representing the fruit of the seven sacraments, water symbolizing the most essential sacrament of baptism and blood the most important sacrament of the Eucharist. Now we can be faithful to the directions outlined in chapter 19 of Leviticus because we can now eat freely of the fruit of the tree of life, the sacraments. We now have the help we need to grow in holiness giving us the ability to be faithful to the commandments.

We are grateful to Bishop Bruskewitz for he has given us permission to have the Blessed Sacrament in our office chapels so our staff, volunteers, benefactors and clients have access to the fruit of the tree of life contained in the tabernacle.

I am happy to announce that we have a Chapel of St. Joseph in our social service center in Lincoln, a Chapel of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in our Immaculate Heart Counseling Center in Lincoln, a Chapel of St. John Vianney in Hastings and plan to eventually have two other chapels in Auburn and Imperial.

Please know that we at Catholic Social Services remember you, your family and intentions while at the foot of the tree of life while praying in our chapels.