“God also said: Let the waters that are under the heaven, be gathered together into one place: and let the dry land appear. And it was so done. And God called the dry land, Earth; and the gathering together of the waters, he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. And he said: Let the earth bring forth the green herb, and such as may seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind, which may have seed in itself upon the earth. And it was so done. And the earth brought forth the green herb, and such as yieldeth seed according to its kind, and the tree that beareth fruit, having seed each one according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day.”
And at the words “Let the waters… be gathered together into one place: and let the dry land appear,” that which had, in a sense, existence but not the beautiful form that we know and touch and encounter, that beauty was so. He then begins to make the elements; in antiquity, it was believed that there were four elements: Earth, water, fire, and air, with the air having been made, and earth and water now receiving their form. These four were connected in a circular way, as earth was dry and cold, water cold and moist, air moist and warm, and fire warm and dry. What pertinence is this to love? It shows that even such things as the elements are interwoven, united in beautiful harmony in a way similar to siblings. As love can only exist between two that share commonality, this is ingrained into the fabric of being of the world that is around you, with the elements themselves needing to share with each other the splendor of union, the wonderfulness of love! “Because that which is known of God is manifest in them. For God hath manifested it unto them” (Romans 1:19); “Shout with joy to God, all the earth, sing ye a psalm to his name; give glory to his praise” (Psalm 65:1-2). Earth and sea are separated and distinguished, being each their own unique creation when the Lord deigns to make creation more magnificent, so He looked upon land in its dry barrenness and, with the desire for greater beauty to showcase His own fruitfulness, the steady growth of love in the soul, love’s seasons of bloom and winter… Ah the lessons that can be learned by the observance of what is green! In this too is a lesson that you are not the other saints, and you express love in your own fashion, and when you let yourself be yourself, not seeking a ready-made spirituality but recognizing your own gifts and letting love flow through them, then you will bear fruit: “Let the people, O God, confess to thee: let all the people give praise to thee: the earth hath yielded her fruit” (Psalm 66:6-7). As for the vegetation itself, St. Basil the Great indicates that plant life began as seeds and rose up to their fullness. In this is seen the flourishing nature of the hearing of the loving words of Sacred Scripture, “The seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11), which is spoken into the earth of your soul, raising it up into a beautiful garden: “I am come into my garden, O my sister, my spouse” (Canticle 5:1); “The Lord therefore will comfort Sion, and will comfort all the ruins thereof: and he will make her desert as a place of pleasure, and her wilderness as the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of praise” (Isaias 51:3). You are then called upon to sow seeds of divine love elsewhere, for those who do not hear the words of God can still know your love, therefore by love you draw souls, and when this flourishes into the fullness of the gospel message, then you are beckoning the Divine Gardener: “Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat the fruit of his apple trees” (Canticle 5:1). Consider too, the extraordinary variety of plants, as even flowers, trees, and herbs are each categories that contain many different individual types. This is simply a sign of the incredible variety amongst people, for each soul, though all are human, is more unique than their face, and each holds a life story that longs to be told. Therefore, look to the plants and see their beauty and uniqueness, and realize that you are far more beautiful: “And if the grass of the field, which is to day, and to morrow is cast into the oven, God doth so clothe: how much more you, O ye of little faith?” (Matthew 6:30), and wonderfully you. There is no need to change what you are, but to realize you are perfectly loved as you are, called to bring forth the seed of divine love according to your own manner of loving. The fruits of this the Lord calls good: “Thy plants are a paradise of pomegranates with the fruits of the orchard. Cypress with spikenard” (Canticle 4:13).