John the Baptist has always been one of my favorite saints. He was called by God before his birth to prepare the Way of the Lord. We have to remember that prophets weren’t always welcomed with open arms and they usually didn’t see the results of their good works. John was the same.
Our first reading and our Gospel today use farming examples that the people of those days understood. In our first reading from the Prophet Ezekiel, the prophet tells us that God can take from good or withered trees and make might cedars bloom that will give life to everything around them. But this is always done in God’s time, not the instance gratification that we sometimes seek.
Today we celebrate the Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. In our first reading from Genesis, Adam and Eve have already sinned and are hiding in the Garden of Eden. God asks them what happened and why they ate the forbidden fruit. Adam blames Eve. Eve blames the serpent. God tells all three the struggle that will ensure between good and evil. That struggle continues even today.