Iron & Altar

"He asked me, 'Son of man, can these bones come to life?' I answered, 'Lord GOD, you alone know.' Then he said to me: Prophesy over these bones." - Ezekiel 37:3-4

The iron offering on Pius X's feast is fitting. He is the pope who gave the Eucharist to seven-year-olds before they were ready, before the preparation was polished, before anyone was sure it was a good idea. He believed the bread would do what no amount of readiness could substitute for.

Ezekiel's honest answer is the beginning of the miracle. Lord God, you alone know. He does not perform the certainty he doesn't have. He sees the bones as they are - very dry, past any obvious hope - and says the true thing: only you know. And God says: good. Prophesy anyway.

Brother, offer your day for [name]. And name the valley of dry bones in their life - the situation you have been looking at so long it no longer seems possible. Give the honest answer: Lord God, you alone know. Then receive the command: prophesy. Speak what God has promised over it before the rattling comes. The speaking is part of how it happens.

Name the dry-bone situation in your life or someone else's that you have stopped prophesying over because it seems too far gone. Don't manufacture certainty you don't have. Say what's true: only God knows. Then do what God told Ezekiel: speak the promise before you see the evidence. Tell another man what you are prophesying over. The man who prophesies alone is more likely to stop.

Lord, you alone know if these bones can come to life. I give you the valley I am standing in and the bones I am looking at. Prophesy through me: O my people I will open your graves and have you rise from them. I will put my spirit in you that you may live. Bring the life before it seems ready. Amen.