Memorial of Saint Pius X, Pope
“Son of man, can these bones come to life?” So the Lord asks the prophet Ezekiel in today’s first reading. And in what must have been a frightening vision, the prophet sees bone join bone, then sees sinew and flesh come upon them, and finally watches as skin comes over the bones.
While the Lord makes clear to the prophet that this vision symbolizes return from exile for all Israelites (not just Judah, it should be noted), it prefigures in a different way our own hope for a share in Jesus’s resurrection. For if, as Paul says, “our citizenship is in heaven,” then our ultimate return from exile will be the resurrection of the dead and life in God’s presence forever.
And what is the result of the resurrection, according to the words of the prophet? “Then you shall know that I am the LORD,” the one who was and is and is to come (Rev 1:8), the one who raises the dead to life in the Spirit (cf. Rom 8:11).
Today, let us meditate on this mystery of restoration and resurrection that the Lord promises to accomplish. And let us ask the Lord to fill us with life by his Spirit, so that walking in newness of life (Rom 6:4), we may make him known.