The Marks Post: A ladder from the Carpenter

This past weekend, I went to my ninth silent retreat at Our Lady of the Oaks in Grand Coteau. We could not have asked for a better experience. The weather was great, the talks were (as the kids say these days) on point, and the food was ... let’s just say I had to restrain myself from eating all of the bread pudding.
The retreat director was Al Cain, who is also director of the retreat house. He is a New Orleans native and a former teacher and coach, as well as a former official on the high school and collegiate level. His dad, in fact, was the attorney for Leander Perez, who ran Plaquemines Parish as his personal fiefdom.
On the first night of the retreat, Cain referred to Jesus as a carpenter. This wasn’t a novel idea because I had known that already. The novelty of the notion came when I started thinking about why Jesus was a carpenter. Certainly Joseph was a carpenter, but Jesus could have been a fisherman like others in His day or even a shepherd like his father David.
During the talk, two Scripture passages came to mind. I went up to my room afterward and read the passages.
The first passage is from the 28th chapter of Genesis: Jacob departed from Beer-sheba and proceeded toward Haran.
When he came upon a certain place, he stopped there for the night, since the sun had already set. Taking one of the stones at the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place.
Then he had a dream: a stairway rested on the ground, with its top reaching to the heavens; and God’s angels were going up and down on it.
And there was the LORD standing beside him and saying: I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you are lying I will give to you and your descendants.
Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and through them you will spread to the west and the east, to the north and the south. In you and your descendants all the families of the earth will find blessing.
I am with you and will protect you wherever you go, and bring you back to this land. I will never leave you until I have done what I promised you.
When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, “Truly, the LORD is in this place and I did not know it! (Verses 10-16)
The other passage is from the first chapter of the Gospel of John: Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth.”
But Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Here is a true Israelite. There is no duplicity in him.”
Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.”
Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.”
Jesus answered and said to him, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.”
And he said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see the sky opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” (Verses 46-51)
After I read those passages, it hit me. Jesus was a carpenter so He could build each of us a ladder to get to Heaven. But, first, we have to have a solid foundation. If our foundation isn’t solid, the ladder will fall, or we’ll fall off.
I fell off a literal ladder at band camp going into my sophomore year at Sacred Heart. It wasn’t fun. I fell off and continue to fall off a figurative ladder because of sin, and it isn’t fun either.
So, over the remainder of this season of Lent, let’s strive to get our foundations where they need to be for the eternal Carpenter to build us our ladder that angels could use to descend and ascend as they escort us to the bosom of Abraham. What an Easter present that would be?