Many retreat houses have a Scripture garden where one may reflect in prayerful stillness amid flowers and trees and fountains as one makes the journey inwards, searching for God. Far from the madding crowd and in a healing silence we can say "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening". If today we hear His voice we will not harden our hearts. The words of Francis Bacon come to mind. "God almighty first planted a garden and indeed it is the purest of human pleasures. It is the greatest refreshment to the spirit of man, without which buildings are but gross handiwork."
Our Scripture opens with praise of a most special garden in Eden away to the east, planted by God himself. Here amid the many trees, pleasing to the eye, our human story began. And all our questing down the centuries has been for a return to the lost garden of peace, fidelity and love.
Under the protection of St Stephen the Martyr, we have in Dublin a garden of astounding beauty that speaks messages of abiding truth, if only we have ears to hear. Saint Stephen calls to us to be ever ready to forgive as we hope to be forgiven. "Lord lay not this sin to their charge." The Lord's Prayer must challenge us as we recall the heroism of this saintly servant of the poor. Paul consented to the brutal murder. Yet what a change the holy martyr's prayers could cause. Saint Stephen's example must not be lost on us as we walk our summer way.
Close to us is the fragrant garden for the blind where titles of shrub and flower recall for us the work of Louis Braille (1809-1842) who made books accessible to millions deprived of that great gift we daily take for granted. "Lord, that I may see."
We stand on holy ground. On a spring morning in 1645, 200 years before Lord Ardilaun gave us this wondrous Green, the Blessed Peter Higgins, Dominican of Naas, was put to death for fidelity to Christ. He was a close friend and defender of Protestant clergy and a tireless worker for unity, toleration and peace. His example calls today. Song birds flourish and their chorus urges us to harmony and an end to painful discord.
Nearby, lived John Henry Newman and Jesuit poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins, who once ranked among the shining lights of the Anglican Church and enriched Ireland and the Catholic community with holiness, wisdom, and generous service to all. The two sparkling fountains recall at once our Baptism and the luminous lines of young Father Hopkins, "Thee God I come from/To thee God I go/All day like a fountain/ From Thee I flow".
The lives of noble women and men remind us of our personal gifts and special call. We dare not forget the Divine Sower and the grace-filled seed, the fig tree and the gardener begging for one more year after three failed harvests, the vine and the branches with abundant fruit, but none if cut from the living stock. Louise Bennett, Helen Cherenix, Anna Maria and Thomas Haslom can still inspire as can the brave Countess and the gentle poet, Thomas Kettle.
There is much that urges us to pray and to resolve. As we stand in deep reflection before the sculpted fountain (a gift from the German people), we can learn the lesson taught in the Book of Job. We come forth like the flower, soon to wither and be blown away by the passing wind. The message of life comes home to us as we gaze upon the three lovely women, the fates of legend and of song. One spins the thread of life. One measures our allotted span. The third, with dreaded shears, cuts forever the cord of our allotted years. In silence and in prayer, we learn deep wisdom of the heart. May each of us be like a growing tree in the House of the Lord. The two splendid fountains with clear water soaring heavenwards recall for us our baptism and the high hopes of parents and of loved ones. The cleansing waters, the spotless robe and the shining candlelight still call to us. "What think you will this child turn out to be?" As with the infant John the Baptist, expectations were high and holy. As we gaze on the crystal waters we seek provision and new hope.
Give to us, O Lord, the living waters of your grace, that, as we work in the garden of our years, the seeds of Faith and Fidelity that you have sown in our hearts, may produce a harvest of Holiness that lasts forever and ever. We make our prayer through Christ, our Lord, Amen.