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.’”
REFLECTION
"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."
All this week the Gospel readings have been about the justice that awaits us in the afterlife. Specifically if we have not done what is right.
And yet, today we read how the gardener tells the master to give the fig tree another year to help it bear fruit so it won't be chopped down.
Sometimes we don't know where to start, or what to do. That is why formation is great help. A wonderful resource to help women is called CanaVox. This is an online discussion group that touches into current events and issues that affect our everyday lives: Marriage equality, same sex attraction, hook up culture, cohabitation, IVF, sex ed, transgenderism, etc.
This discussion group is a simile of a fertilizer we might need to strengthen our faith through reason and critical thinking, so we can help ourselves, our family and friends to understand what is right and thus be able to follow God's will in this world. And eventually bear "good fruit" for His Glory.
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