REFLECTION

GOSPEL - Third Sunday of Lent

Some people told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. Jesus said to them in reply, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans?

By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did! Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them – do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!”

And he told them this parable: “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said to the gardener, ‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. So cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’ He said to him in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.'”

​​Luke 13:1-9

REFLECTION  

How often do we pass by someone or something that could transform us, if we were open to them or it? Would God necessarily speak to us directly and give us a message as important as the message God gave Moses? Maybe not, but maybe. God does have desires and plans for each of us, just as God had desires and plans for Moses.

Each of us can think back to special people and happenings in our lives that have changed us forever and brought great blessings into our lives.

When I first started my career, I encountered many amazing and some famous people. Two people that made enormous impressions upon me were the opposite of famous. One was an unassuming, elderly man who lived in a very humble home and used his meager income to buy food to feed wild birds who had come to depend on him. He was generous and kind and he touched my soul. Another person was a loving, energetic, older blind nun who lived in a contemplative community. Again, she was definitely a messenger from God, and she taught me many things about life and faith as we remained friends for years and she came to know my whole family.

Each of us have many special encounters like these, and more, if we are open and responsive to the Lord. Let us pray that we use the remaining time in Lent to reflect upon the many times God has spoken to our hearts throughout the course of our lives, and to ask for a renewed sense of the Divine here and now, and in the days and years to come.