Hubert van Zeller, ‘This is a tremendous vision. Somehow the idea of sound is better expressed in Ezekiel than in other sacred writers - Nahum not excepted. Between the sky-cracking claps of thunder we can hear the rattle of bones as they come together with the impact of obedience.’

Monastic Office of Vigils,

 

First Reading

TUESDAY

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Responsory          Ez 37:12-13; In 11:25

I am going to open your graves and raise you up from them. + Then you will know that I am the Lord.

V. I am the resurrection and the life; those who believe in me, even if they die, shall live. + Then you will ...

Second Reading

From Ezekiel, Man of Signs, by Hubert van Zeller, pp. 113-115 

This is a tremendous vision. Somehow the idea of sound is better expressed in Ezekiel than in other sacred writers - Nahum not excepted. Between the sky-cracking claps of thunder we can hear the rattle of bones as they come together with the impact of obedience. Not an empty socket, not a finger-bone out of place. There is no mention of rain but we feel sure that a downpour followed close upon the thunder and the earthquakes; we seem to hear the water beating down upon the parched valley until eddies of it swirl and bubble round the ankles of an innumerable army of hitherto dry skeletons. But only for a minute are they skeletons. And I saw, and behold the sinews and flesh came upon them, and the skin was stretched out over them ... but there was no spirit in them.

There they stood, these bodies, simply waiting to become alive. The spirit only was wanting. Surely there is a link here between Ezekiel and Genesis? It is as if a repetition of God's creative act were needed for the restoration of the body of the faithful ... the material is prepared, but for the making of the new human being there must be the breath of God. And is there not also a purely symbolical interpretation to the progressive bestowal of life? Often enough there is the body of religion when at the same time the soul is lacking: knowledge has seen to it that every sinew is in position and that there is skin to cover the frame, but that is as far as it has got. Love is absent. And it is the spirit of Love - God's Spirit - which gives life.

And I prophesied as he had commanded me, and the spirit came into them and they lived. A rush of air swept down upon the lifeless bodies and they lived. We can imagine a great silence following. We see a great host of people standing silent before the face of God. "Can bones live again?" we imagine the Lord repeating to his prophet in the stillness. "Lord, you know" would be the whispered reply, and this time would be added - "that they can."

The whole thing is so short: eleven verses. And what are not its possible applications? It can stand for dead souls as well as dead races; it can apply to an ideal that has been scattered and wasted as well as to a faith that has dried up in the valley of the soul. It can apply to a devotion or a friendship or a project or a prayer; it can apply to anything that has petered out under the glare of the sun. But the bones can live again. We may not say, as Judah said, We are dried up, our hope is lost. Our hope is not lost, we are not cut off permanently.

Thus when we hear the invocation "send forth your Spirit and they shall be created, and you will renew the face of the earth" we can recall the vision of Ezekiel. We can recall also its fulfilment. God did send forth his Spirit, his people were created anew, and face of the earth smiled beneath the sunshine of his favour.

Responsory          Ps 104:30; Wis 1:7

When you send forth your Spirit they are created, and + you renew the face of the earth.

V. The Spirit of the Lord has filled the whole world. + You renew