Thursday after Sunday Advent 1 isaiah 5:1-7
In the breviary today is a story about a vineyard, Isaiah 5:1-7. It starts lovely: “My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He dug it up, gathered out its stones, planted it with the choicest vine, built a tower in its midst, and also cut out a winepress therein.” Then it turns out the vineyard is a disappointment. “He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.” Then God tells Israel what he will do to this vineyard, which is of course a metaphor for Israel. He will break down the hedge and the vineyard will be eaten up, also he will command the clouds that they may not rain on it. In the end the vineyard will only grow briers and thorns.
Today I have a pulled a card with the question why the vineyard of which is taken so good care of, bears no fruit. Why is taking very, very good care of people not enough to let them grow and blossom?
I drew my card from the Tarot of a Moon Garden and it was Judgment. In the RWS version of this card people stand up from their graves. For me Judgment is a card of resurrection, of doing what your soul needs and yearns for, making healing changes and life-decisions. Living this card means taking responsibility for yourself and the life you live. In the context of the story the card means for me that taking good care is not enough. There are two parties involved. The caretaker who but also the vineyard symbol for Israel, the people that are taken care of. The people that are taken care of must want to bear fruit themselves, otherwise nothing will grow, nothing will bear fruit. They must want to change ways, doing what is good for them and what is healing. Pampering, threatening, talking people into something does not help. People themselves must choose to do what good is for them, the caretaker can not do this. It is obvious, is not it, but I did not see it before
Woven into the story about the vineyard is the Annunciation, the event that the angel Gabriel comes to tell Maria that she will deliver the Son of God. The vineyard that is unfruitful is in this way contrasted with Maria’s fruitfulness, but without directly saying so.
Maria’s womb does bear fruit, but is she so willing? Is she not frightened by the angel then? Isn’t she just not overpowered? So, why is Maria fruitful? As an answer to these question I have pulled The Lovers, again from the Tarot of a Moon Garden.
One of the themes of The Lovers is choosing, the same theme as of Judgment. She is possibly frightened, but Maria still chooses to do it. She chooses love and sweetness. There is much more ‘oneness’ on this card between the lovers than on other version and there is equality between the two. Maria surrenders to the male, without being overpowered.
As in the other entries in Advent, I learn here that the divine and the human both have a task. Healing can not come from one side. What does that mean for me, in my life…, for my relation with the divine… I need to ponder about that…
Painting: The Annunciation by Fra Angelico
Today I have a pulled a card with the question why the vineyard of which is taken so good care of, bears no fruit. Why is taking very, very good care of people not enough to let them grow and blossom?
I drew my card from the Tarot of a Moon Garden and it was Judgment. In the RWS version of this card people stand up from their graves. For me Judgment is a card of resurrection, of doing what your soul needs and yearns for, making healing changes and life-decisions. Living this card means taking responsibility for yourself and the life you live. In the context of the story the card means for me that taking good care is not enough. There are two parties involved. The caretaker who but also the vineyard symbol for Israel, the people that are taken care of. The people that are taken care of must want to bear fruit themselves, otherwise nothing will grow, nothing will bear fruit. They must want to change ways, doing what is good for them and what is healing. Pampering, threatening, talking people into something does not help. People themselves must choose to do what good is for them, the caretaker can not do this. It is obvious, is not it, but I did not see it before
Woven into the story about the vineyard is the Annunciation, the event that the angel Gabriel comes to tell Maria that she will deliver the Son of God. The vineyard that is unfruitful is in this way contrasted with Maria’s fruitfulness, but without directly saying so.
Maria’s womb does bear fruit, but is she so willing? Is she not frightened by the angel then? Isn’t she just not overpowered? So, why is Maria fruitful? As an answer to these question I have pulled The Lovers, again from the Tarot of a Moon Garden.
One of the themes of The Lovers is choosing, the same theme as of Judgment. She is possibly frightened, but Maria still chooses to do it. She chooses love and sweetness. There is much more ‘oneness’ on this card between the lovers than on other version and there is equality between the two. Maria surrenders to the male, without being overpowered.
As in the other entries in Advent, I learn here that the divine and the human both have a task. Healing can not come from one side. What does that mean for me, in my life…, for my relation with the divine… I need to ponder about that…
Painting: The Annunciation by Fra Angelico