The imagery of the Valley of dry bones in the book of Ezekiel is both dramatic and haunting. Like most things from God there are many different levels of meaning. There is the most direct one which speaks of the house of Israel and how even though they seemingly were dead and unable to rise God would restore them to life and to their land making of them a mighty nation. It is also interpreted by many as the promise of the resurrection and of eternal life for the saints. But there is another interpretation relevant to our days and the Kingdom of the Divine Will which deals with the Mystical Body of Christ.
There is a passage in the Volumes, Vol. 13, Jan. 11, 1922 where Luisa asks the Lord, "All the children of the Church are members of the Mystical Body, of which Jesus is the Head. What place will the souls who do the Will of God occupy in this Mystical Body?" We'll get to that in a bit but first I'd like to examine this valley of bones and their rebirth in view of the Mystical Body of Christ, his Church and Bride.
Now following the fall of Adam and Eve in God's eyes, man was dead, dead to the life of the Divine Will and thereby the Divine Life that they were originally gifted with. Each act that was before animated by a Divine Will and therefore became a Divine Life was dead. That's a lot of dry bones. This is the state of man, a valley full of dead, dried out bones, impossible to revive by any natural means. Even though man might be appear alive and walking and moving, before God he was as dead. But God will not be frustrated in his plans and through the prophet Ezekiel he outlined his plan to deal with his creature slain by original sin.
The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. 3 He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6 I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.”
7 So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” 10 I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.
11 Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ 12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. 14 I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord.”
Ezekiel 37: 1-23
All the members of the people of God are members of the Mystical Body of God. Each of us have gifts to contribute but there is also an evolution which God has been unveiling over the ages in his people, revealing, preparing, building on in order to obtain his final goal; a whole, complete, healthy, beautiful, sanctified Bride. One can see this progression in the prophecy of Ezekiel. First the bones come together and form the frame, they are connected and held firm by the tendons and ligaments, they take on the ability to move with the muscles and become covered with skin beautifying them and completing their physical appearance. This can be also be seen in the progression of the people of God. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Moses, the Patriarchs, formed the bones, the structure of the Church. Those that followed, Joshua, the prophets, the Judges, David and all who lived their lives by the law of God and the examples of their forefathers held this structure together forming the sinews which hold the bones together. And then there are the muscles of the Church, the Apostles, all the Saints reaching out extending the motion and function of the Church of the Mystical Body. The last step in rebuilding this physical body is the skin to cover and complete. And here is how Jesus answered Luisa's question.
Finding myself in my usual state, I was thinking about the Holy Divine Will, and I said to myself: ‘All the children of the Church are members of the Mystical Body, of which Jesus is the Head. What place will the souls who do the Will of God occupy in this Mystical Body?’ And Jesus, always benign, on coming, told me:
“My daughter, the Church is my Mystical Body, of which I glory in being the Head. But in order to enter this Mystical Body, the members must grow to a proper stature, otherwise they would deform my Body. But alas! how many not only do not have the due proportion, but are rotten, wounded - so much as to be disgusting to my Head and to the other healthy members. Now, the souls who live, or will live in my Will, will be for the Body of my Church like skin to the body. The body has internal skin and external skin, and because in the skin there is the blood circulation which gives life to the whole body, it is by virtue of this circulation that the members reach the proper stature. If it wasn’t for the skin and for the blood circulation, the human body would be horrid to the sight, and its members would not grow to due proportion.
“Now, see how these souls who live in my Will are necessary to Me. Since I have destined them to be like skin to the body of my Church, and like circulation of life for all the members, they will be the ones who will give the proper growth to the members which have not grown; who will heal the wounded members, and who will restore the freshness, the beauty, the splendor of the whole Mystical Body by their continuous living in my Will, rendering it fully similar to my Head, which will sit in full majesty upon all these members. This is why the end of days cannot come if I do not have these souls who live as though dissolved in my Will - they interest Me more than anything. What impression would this Mystical Body make in the Celestial Jerusalem without them? And if this is what interests Me more than anything, it must interest you also more than anything, if you love Me. From now on, I will give to your acts done in my Will the virtue of circulation of life for the whole Mystical Body of the Church. Just like the blood circulation in the human body, your acts, extended within the immensity of my Will, will extend over all and will cover these members like skin, giving them proper growth. Therefore, be attentive and faithful.”
Vol. 13, January 11, 1922So the children of the Divine Will will act as skin to the body of the Church. And what functions does the skin serve to a body? Skin is the largest organ of the body and protects the body from outside invaders acting a the defense. It helps regulate water balance and warms the internal organs as well protecting from temperature changes. And the skin beautifies as well the creature to the eyes and touch. Internally the skin makes up the blood vessels to transport the life giving blood throughout the body, over 60,000 miles of blood vessels in each one of us. And although the skin is not the blood, without it the blood could not circulate, could not carry it's oxygen throughout, could not dispose of the waste products, could not circulate it's immune cells throughout acting as healing, protecting and fighting off invaders. So too the children of the Divine Will are not the Divine Life but they transport the Divine Life throughout the Mystical Body through their acts done in the Divine Will. This is the last epoch in the ages to complete the physical appearance of the Mystical Body. Which will bring about the needed healing, restoration, function and proper growth to all the members of the Bride of Christ, the Mystical Body. But in Ezekiel this is not the end still there is needed the breath of God to once again bring his creature back to life, Divine Life as he originally intended.
I still would like to go over the Breath of God and the three prophetic words which were spoken in Ezekiel's vision needed to fully restore man but that will have to wait for another blog. I'd like to leave this with a clearer picture of just how the creature appears before God and the tremendous folly of the love of God to which he will go in order to save, redeem and sanctify his creature in order to bring him back to himself in full health and Divine Life.
“My beloved daughter, look well at Me, that you may know my pains in depth. My Body is the true portrait of the man who commits sin. Sin strips him of the garments of my grace; and I let Myself be stripped of my garments so as to give grace back to him once again. Sin deforms him, and while he is the most beautiful creature that came out of my hands, he becomes the ugliest one - disgusting and repugnant. I was the most beautiful of men, and I can say that, in order to give beauty back to man, my Humanity took on the ugliest form. Look at Me - how horrid I am. I let my skin be torn off by dint of lashes, to the point that I could no longer recognize Myself. Not only does sin take beauty away, but it forms deep wounds, rotten and gangrenous, which corrode the most intimate parts; they consume his vital humors, so everything he does are dead - skeletal works. They snatch from him the nobility of his origin, the light of his reason - and he becomes blind. And I, in order to fill the depth of his wounds, let my Flesh be torn to shreds; I reduced all of Myself to a wound, and by shedding my Blood in rivers, I made the vital humors flow in his soul, so as to give life back to him once again. Ah! Had I not had the fount of the life of my Divinity within Me, which, since my Humanity died at each pain they gave Me, substituted for my life - I would have died from the very beginning of my Passion.
“Now, my pains, my Blood, my Flesh which fell off in shreds, are always in the act of giving life to man; but man rejects my Blood so as not to receive life; he tramples upon my Flesh so as to remain wounded. Oh, how I feel the weight of ingratitude!” And throwing Himself into my arms, Jesus burst into tears. I clasped Him to my heart, but He was crying strongly. What torment, to see Jesus crying! I would have wanted to suffer any pain so that He would not cry. So I compassionated Him, I kissed His wounds, I dried His tears; and He, as though cheered, added: “Do you know how I act? I act like a father who loves his son very much. This son is blind, deformed, crippled; and his father who loves him to folly - what does he do? He plucks out his own eyes; he tears off his own legs, tears his own skin off, and gives everything to his son, saying: ‘I am happier to remain blind, crippled, deformed myself, as long as I see that you, my son, can see, can walk, and are beautiful.’ Oh! how happy is that father, in seeing his son look with his eyes, walk with his legs, and covered with his beauty. But what would the sorrow of the father be, if he saw his son, ungrateful, throwing away his eyes, legs and skin, contenting himself with remaining ugly as he is? So I am: I took care of everything, but men, ungrateful, form my most bitter sorrow.”
Vol. 14, February 9, 1922