Fig Tree Analogy

A reflection by Mother Maria-Michael Newe, OSB

We are so blessed to have Mary as our Mother, our Queen Mother, whose joy it is to intercede for God’s people.  She’s a Mother who understands us – Mary knows us, our history, our situation, and what our deepest needs are.  She knows what God poured into us at our conception, and with what excitement the Trinity beheld each one of us and wondered, “What will she do with this?  How will she live these gifts out?”  

It reminds me of how the other day I was so thrilled to pick a little fig off of our fig tree.  What a joy!  It makes me think of how God sees us: The whole tree can be full of figs, but He picks one and is so joyful over it.  Each one is a joy when you pick it.  Each one is a joy when you see it.  And you, too, are a joy for God.  You, too, have a “yes”.  You, too, have gifts poured into you; so acknowledge them, and then run to Christ and say, “Thank you.”  Because then not only will Mary intercede for us, but she will also be able to tell God of our gratitude.

The Loving Heart of my God thought of my soul, loved it, and prepared endless means to promote its salvation, even as though there were no other soul on earth of which He thought; just as the sun shines on each spot of earth as brightly as though it shone nowhere else, but reserved all its brightness for that alone. So Our Dear Lord thought and cared for every one of His children as though none other existed. “Who loved me, and gave Himself for me,” St. Paul says, as though he meant, “for me alone, as if there were none but me He cared for.”

Saint Francis de Sales