From: Ezekiel 17:22-24
The allegory come true (Continued)
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[22] Thus says the Lord GOD: "I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar, and will set it out; I will break off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I myself will plant it upon a high and lofty mountain; [23] on the mountain height of Israel will I plant it, that it may bring forth boughs and bear fruit, and become a noble cedar; and under it will dwell all kinds of beasts; in the shade of its branches birds of every sort will nest. [24] And all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD bring low the high tree, and make high the low tree, dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree flourish. I the LORD have spoken, and I will do it."
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Commentary:
17:22-24. Chapters 15-17 contain a number of allegories. The special feature of the cedar tree allegory describing the eventual restoration is the way it puts the stress on God's action by explicitly repeating the first person singular: "I myself", "I the Lord will bring low", "I the Lord have spoken". Some commentators think that these verses might have been inserted in the text later, but the style and content of the oracle are perfectly in line with Ezekiel's thinking.
"In the shade of its branches birds of every sort will rest" (v. 23): the same words are used in the account of the flood about all sorts of birds entering Noah's ark. It points therefore to the eschatological nature of the oracle: after the exile, just as after the flood, everything will be completely new, although it will derive from something that already existed. Also, the reference to "birds of every sort" points to the catholic nature of the new Israel. It is no surprise therefore that our Lord should use similar imagery to describe the Kingdom of God: it is like a grain of mustard seed that grows and "becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches" (Mt 13:32).
"I the Lord bring low the high tree" (v. 24): here again we see the Lord as the protagonist in the history of the chosen people. He is the author of life, which makes what is dry flourish, and of death, which withers the green tree. He has set his might against those who, in their arrogance, do not accept him (cf. 31:10-14). The New Testament will have much to say about the value of humility; for example: "whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted" (Mt 23:12).
He is sustained by hope of heaven
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[6] So we are always of good courage; we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, [7] for we walk by faith, not by sight. [8] We are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. [9] So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. [10] For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body.
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Commentary:
6. St Alphonsus says apropos of this verse: "This is not our fatherland; we are here, as it were, passing through, like pilgrims [. . .]. Our fatherland is heaven, which we have to merit by God's grace and our own good actions. Our home is not the one we live in at present, which serves only as a temporary dwelling; our home is eternity" (Shorter Sermons, XVI).
However, as St Paul himself shows elsewhere (cf. Acts 16:16-40; 22:22-29; Rom 13:1-7; 2 Thess 3:6:13), this "being away" from the Lord does not mean that a Christian should not concern himself with the building up of the earthly city. On the contrary, he should do everything he can to build a world which is more and more like what God wants it to be. Vatican II, for example, exhorts "Christians, as citizens of both cities, to perform their duties faithfully in the spirit of the Gospel. It is a mistake to think that, because we have here no lasting city, but seek the city which is to come (cf. Heb 13:14), we are entitled to shirk our responsibilities; this is to forget that, by our faith, we are bound all the more to fulfil these responsibilities according to the vocation of each one (cf. 2 Thess 3:6-13; Eph 4:28) [.. .]. The Christian who shirks his temporal duties shirks his duties towards his neighbour, neglects God himself and endangers his eternal salvation. Let Christians follow the example of Christ who worked as a craftsman; let them be proud of the opportunity to carry out their earthly activity in such a way as to integrate human, domestic, professional, scientific and technical enterprises with religious values, under whose supreme direction all things are ordered to the glory of God" (Gaudium et spes, 43).
7. St Paul here speaks of faith as light which shows us the way as we progress towards eternal life. However, when we reach our home in heaven we will no longer need the light of faith, because God himself and Christ will be our light (cf. Rev 21:23).
8-10. Here we can see the Apostle's firm conviction that he will meet the Lord the moment he dies. In other passages of Sacred Scripture the same truth is stated (cf. Lk 16:22-23; 23:43), and the Magisterium of the Church has defined that souls will receive their eternal reward or punishment immediately after death -- or after they pass through purgatory, if they have to do so (cf. Benedict XII, Benedictus Deus, Dz-Sch, 1000).
This sentence of reward or punishment -- given at the particular judgment and ratified at the general judgment at the end of time -- is based on the person's merits gained during his life on earth, for once he has died he can no longer merit. In view of this judgment St Paul exhorts us to do everything we can in this life to please the Lord. "Does your soul not burn with the desire to make your Father-God happy when he has to judge you?" (St J. Escrivá, The Way, 746).