meaning

Sprawled on the front lawn under the cherry tree.
Savouring the sunlight streaming through the leaves.
My mind recalls a story from the Bible.
A guy called Nathaniel was sitting under a tree. His friend Philip came and suggested: "Come meet Jesus from Gallilee. We think he might be the one who was foretold."
Nathaniel replied: "Can anything good come out of Gallilee?"
He went with Philip anyway.
As the two approached Jesus, the Lord indicated Nathaniel and called out: "Here is an Israelite in whom there is no deception."
Nathaniel said: "How do you know me sir?"
Jesus said: "Before Philip came to you, I saw you under the tree."
Nathaniel was dumbstruck.
The Bible does not tell why this remark of the Lord's would be so significant to him.
The exact nature of what Jesus meant and why it affected Nathaniel so instantly and so deeply, has been a source of discussion among Christians for 2000 years.
Nathaniel instantly proclaimed: "You are the son of God. You are the saviour of Israel."
Jesus answered: "You say that because I said I saw you under a tree. You are going to see greater things than that."
I love this story.
I love the magnificent mystic promise inherent in the statement: "You will see greater things than that."
The words seem rich with almost mischievous humour.
Sometimes scholars wonder why there is no specific mention of Jesus ever laughing in the Bible.
I know that at this moment there were laughs all round.
It rings true to me.
The witness doesn't tell us what Nathaniel was doing under the tree because he doesn't know.
If he was making up the story I always feel he could have just made up some meaning for the remark of Jesus and ascribed some cause for Nathaniel's instantaneous knowledge at that moment of who Jesus really is.
Instead the gospel writer doesn't even try to fill in the gaps.
He only tells us what he knows actually happened.
Back to the present.
I'm sitting under a tree at the Chateau de Healy.
Paddy Pup is somewhere nearby.
I think of the story about Nathaniel.
I say quietly to God: "You know it wouldn't offend me one bit if you gave me a bit of a mystical confirmation of your truth. I'd be very happy to have one of those mystical experiences. Don't hold back now."
I looked down.
This is what I saw.
It is a shamrock plant. The plant symbolises the ultimate truth of God to all Irish people. Our tradition records that Saint Patrick plucked a shamrock and used it to preach to the tribes about the Christian idea of three persons in one God. The three leaves on the single plant convey to us the notion of Father, Son and Holy Spirit all being one. I had no awareness of plucking the shamrock today. The first I knew I had done so was when I looked down at my hand.