Greetings on this the Third Sunday of Lent
Readings: Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15; Psalm 103: 1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 11.; 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12; Luke 13:1-9
Summary
In our sacred readings today we are given the awareness that Grace is experienced by everyone but it is up to each to decide if that grace and the divine purpose of that grace means more than simply convenience and bodily comfort. Our first reading Moses was sent by ‘I AM’ to rescue the people. Everyone was rescued but not all accepted the fullness of the rescue and ‘died in the desert (of disbelief)’. Our gospel portion (the second portion of it) describes how the barren fig tree will be tended and care for so that it may bear the fruit of the graces given. The Lord is very patient. 40 years in the desert. 4 millennia, post New Testament (that is just my poetic saying of a long time – not predicting the Second Coming to be 4025 AD).
Nobody is better or worse than anybody else. The dividing line is the acceptance of Grace in the person of the divine. In two days time we celebrate the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord. God dwelling among us.
Grace Abounds
I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, and all of them were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. All ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was the Christ (1 COR 10:1-4).
Manner of Death
In the first portion of the gospel story today, Jesus makes note of two terrible events: one in Galilee and one in Jerusalem – that is effecting the faith of all Israel. In Galilee the evil of a single man, Pilate. The details are unclear and the specific event not recorded elsewhere. It is framed to be similar stories of the cruelty of Pilate who killed the faithful and made sacrilege of holy vestments and sacrifices. In Jerusalem, the death of 18 in the collapse of the tower at Siloam. Here too the details are unclear and the specific event not recorded elsewhere. It is framed to be similar to the use and sacrilege of a Tower used by the elite and the religious including the storage of holy vestments.
- Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? (LK 13:2).
- Do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? (LK 13:4).
Some of those killed by Pilate and some of those who died in the fall of the tower died in disbelief of divine grace. It isn’t the manner of death that matters as much as the state of the soul.
The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree
In the second portion of the gospel story today, Jesus tells The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree. Patience for us. Patience for each other.
‘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.’ (LK 13:8-9)”
Reflection
The patience of God is for salvation. The grace of God is for our well-being.
And that a higher gift than grace
Should flesh and blood refine,
God's presence and his very self
And essence all divine
(Praise to the Holiest, J. H. Newman, 1801-1890)
Personal Reflection
We have to separate the externality of the manner of death from the grace of the Presence interiorly. Let the Lord cultivate the ground and fertilize it around and about you. May you bear the fruits of faith and experience the fullness of grace.
Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032325-YearC.cfm
Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry
