Cycle C - Year II:

28 February 2016: Third Sunday of Lent

(Liturgical color: Violet)

Gospel: Please read Luke 13:1-9

The Lord is kind and merciful!

When tragedy or natural calamity strikes, can we attribute that to God's punishment? Sometimes, when we are unable to comprehend misfortunes we relate them to divine intervention as punishment for our sins. Is this proper?

This Sunday's Gospel narrative tells of the misfortunes that befell the Galilean pilgrims and the victims of the fall of the tower of Siloam. People asked our Lord if this was God's punishment for their sins.

Our Lord categorically refuses to attribute their misfortunes to God, or to His sense of justice. Because God does only good; He offers us only life.

Our God is a very patient God who wants us back to His kingdom. So Jesus takes this opportunity to

explain God's mercy and sense of justice. He uses the parable of the fig tree that had not borne fruits for the past three years but was allowed to remain for another year so that it might produce a harvest.

The metaphor for the fig tree teaches us practical lessons about the time each of us is given in this life for conversion.

First lesson: The farmer wanted to cut down the fig tree because it had not borne fruits but only exhausted the soil. Those who only take and don't give something in return eventually collapse upon themselves and die. The same can be true for us when we do not bear fruit for the kingdom of God. Each of us is indebted to God for our lives, but each of us has the responsibility to leave this world better than when we found it when we depart for the next life. We must produce fruits of good deeds.

Second lesson: God is always giving us another chance to conversion and change of heart. Each day is a gift from God. We can make use of it to advance His kingdom, or we can use it only for our own selfish purposes. Our merciful God beckons us always to repentance because His generosity is immense.

Final lesson (but not last): While God's generosity is immense, it is not infinite. One day He will call us for an accounting of our lives. At a certain point, our chances to repent are exhausted and each of us will have to answer for the way we live our lives. It is not as if God shuts us out. Rather, we are responsible for our own downfall should we reject God's invitation to repent with contrite heart.

Now is the time to answer Lent's urgent call for a chance of heart. May each of us sense the urgency of conversion that the parable of the fig tree teaches us. And let us put to life its lessons and work hard to bear fruits for God's kingdom, each according to our own state of life and capacity. Let us always remember that while we live in God's mercy in this life, we will live under His justice in the next.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!