Many people find gardening to be a form of therapy with fringe benefits: fresh vegetables and/or beautiful flowers.
Father Rob Wisniewski agrees, but says there are deeper, spiritual dimensions to his favorite hobby. He compares gardening to ?a message of resurrection that is around us at all times. It keeps us in tune with life, death and new life again.?
He says gardening provides exercise, helps clear his head and mind and is another avenue for connecting with people. ?Back yard gardeners love to compare notes,? he adds.
The earth is full of life, even the soil, Father Rob says. ?You can see the resurrection built into the way our world turns. Birth is the planting phase; the golden years are the growing phase. Then comes the harvest, and finally, death. But there will always be spring and new life.?
There are numerous references in Scriptures to planting and nurturing, things to which the early Christians could relate. Many of these still apply.
?Unless a seed falls to the earth and dies, it remains but a seed,? Father Rob says, adding, ?seeds then can produce much fruit.? His analogy mirrors the Scripture passage: ?Unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.? (John 12:24)
And Father Rob, pastor of St. Bridget of Kildare Parish in Parma, reaps a bountiful harvest from his well-planned garden, which he tends on his weekly day off. The 34-foot by 37-foot garden plot at his parents? eastern-suburban home brims with life during the growing season. The Wisniewskis?
