The Church prepares us for Christ's Christmas coming by using the Biblical image of a felled tree and the remaining stump. However, this is not the image of a Christmas tree; the toppled tree symbolizes destruction and the stump symbolizes total destruction. John the Baptizer threatened: "Every tree that is not fruitful will be cut down and thrown into the fire" (Mt 3:10). Isaiah prophesied: "Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, lops off the boughs with terrible violence; the tall of stature are felled, and the lofty ones brought low; the forest thickets are felled with the axe" (Is 10:33-34). Then Isaiah immediately added that a Shoot, a Bud, would blossom from the stump.

No matter if whole branches of our lives have been sawed off through divorce, abuse, rejection, failure, or injustice — no matter if we have been chain-sawed and there is nothing left of our lives but a stump and sawdust — there's still hope. The Hope is a Shoot, a Bud, upon Whom the Spirit of the Lord rests (Is 11:2). The budding Hope is the One more powerful than John the Baptizer and the One Who baptizes "in the Holy Spirit and fire" (Mt 3:11).

If the words of Ash Wednesday have come true and you have returned to dust, even sawdust, don't despair. For every stump, there's the Bud, Jesus.

Rescript:  †Reverend Joseph R. Binzer, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, May 28, 2010

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