Cycle C - Year I:

3 March 2013 - 3rd Sunday of Lent

(Liturgical color: Violet)

Luke 13:1-9

The Lord is kind and merciful!

The phenomenon of global warming brings havoc everywhere with more frequent and more devastating typhoons, massive flooding, landslides and even earth tremors or earthquakes. When tragedies like these happen, it is not unusual that we attribute religious meanings to them.

The people of Jesus' time speculated on how God's hands are seen in unfolding events. In today's Gospel, the people called Jesus' attention to two tragic incidents. The first is Pontius Pilate's slaughter of Galileans whose blood he "had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices". And the other incident involved 18 persons who perished when "the tower at Siloam  fell on them".

The Jews saw such tragedies not unlike our current interpretation of disasters. They also associated these with the victims' sins, or with their having broken the Lord's command.

But Jesus said that there is no basis for such line of thinking. In other words, he ruled out the "equation" that a particular sinfulness brings about a particular tragedy.

Jesus, however, affirmed that sin does spell disaster for us. Thus, in today's Gospel the Lord reminds us on the need for all to repent.

It is in this context that Jesus told them the parable of the fig tree. The tree has been planted in the vineyard but because it bore no fruit the owner wanted to cut it down. But his gardener pleaded with him to leave it for another year.

This parable depicts how God is patient with us. But it also contains a warning that we should not presume upon it.

It is true that God's mercy is infinite, but our capacity to accept it is not. Because we are limited, time-bound creatures. Each day, every moment, the time clock is ticking and we will have to make our choices.

Trusting that the Lord is kind and merciful, let us pray especially during this Lenten Season that the Lord in his mercy gives us both the grace and time to turn away from sins and from worldliness. And the time is right now. If we delay even for just a day, we may discover that grace has passed us by, and our time is up. Tomorrow may not come. A sudden and unexpected death leaves one no time to prepare to settle one's account, when we all must stand before the Lord on the day of judgment.

So while there is still time, let us listen to our Lord Jesus and change our lives, both as individuals and as a nation.
 
A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Deo Optimo Maximo!