Hello! Just a special note about the readings today and for the next two Sundays. For people preparing to enter the Church at the Easter Vigil, parishes have the option of selecting readings from the A Cycle. Today, I’m going to reflect on Gospel for the readings from the C Cycle, Luke 13:1-9, the Parable of the Barren Fig Tree.
The central theme of all the readings today, speak to us about God’s mercy and compassion. In today’s Gospel, for example, we hear about an owner who asks his gardener to cut down a tree that will not bear fruit. But the gardener asks for one more year to see if he can cultivate. This represents God’s mercy.
Now I think it’s easy enough to look at that particular reading and to say to yourself, clearly, we’re talking about non-believers. But I think there’s another message here. There are many people who claim to have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, they come to church all the time, but like our fig tree, their lives bear no fruit. What fruit? Well, St. Paul gives us some examples in his letter to the Galatians – the fruits of the Holy Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These fruits manifest in the way we live our lives. For example, doing good works – helping those who need help – is an example of how our fruits manifest.
In other words, is there any real conversion? Are they loving, or mean to those around them? Do they try to get along, or are they intolerant? Are they nice, or are they short-tempered or a bully?
Accepting Jesus Christ is more than just saying words. It has to mean real, authentic conversion. This time of Lent is a great opportunity to reflect on our faith life. Some people ask, why Lent? Lent isn’t in the Bible, so Lent is not necessary. Well, is biblically based, but you see, the Church in her wisdom knows that life is too busy and most of us don’t take the time to stop and reflect on the important things in our life – our families, our purpose, and our relationship with Jesus Christ. So Lent, and Advent for that matter, are times set aside to encourage us to slow down and think about this life that we’re blessed with – to think about our purpose. Is my life bearing fruit?
So, what prevents our life from bearing fruit? Sin. And I’m not talking about little sins. I’m talking about the big ones, like adultery and habitual sins like abusing drugs, alcohol or indulging in sins that exploit people like greed and pornography. This is a good time to ask ourselves if we burdened by sins like these and repent. Repentance doesn’t mean just asking for forgiveness. I can’t just sit on my back porch with a cup of coffee, watch the sunrise and say, “Jesus, forgive me!” I can’t just walk into a confessional without changing anything in my life. Repentance means more than that. Yes, we need to ask forgiveness, but it also means making amends to anyone we’ve hurt because of our sins and committing ourselves, with the grace of God, to not repeat these sins – to change our lives.
And that leads us to our homework today. Homework! Nourished by Jesus in the Word proclaimed in the Eucharist, ask yourself:
What needs changing in my life right now?
What steps am I taking this Lent to make sure that my faith bears fruit, perhaps through good works?
Got it? Are you going to do? Good! May each of us come to know the grace and peace of Jesus Christ. And may Almighty God bless you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. +Amen!
Jesus…led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them…they became frightened. They fell silent. (Luke 9:28B-36)
The readings about the Transfiguration of Jesus comes at an important time in Lent. As we move closer to Christ’s Passion, we will reflect on the humanity of Jesus. But the Transfiguration reminds of the divinity of Jesus. And of course, these readings remind us that we too need to undergo a transformation as we absorb the Word of God. If we’re truly to become disciples of Jesus, we need to move beyond superficial level of faith into a true relationship with Jesus. But I’d like to share another point of view. How does Peter react? Scripture says they’re frightened, but Peter starts almost babbling, “Master, it is good that we are here; let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah,” (Luke 9:33). Then, they all become super quiet. Why? What’s going on?
I suggest to you that Peter is fumbling because he’s been confronted with this simplicity of the truth, that Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is not an earthly king who will liberate Israel. Rather, Jesus is truly the Son of God who has come to save humanity. This is one of those light dawns on marblehead kind of experiences for Peter, and we can almost sympathize with him, right? It must have been an overwhelming experience.
How many times in your life have you tried to explain something simple, but found yourself making it much more complicated than it really is? Or, how many times has it been so quiet that I felt the need to talk – to break the silence? There’s a powerful lesson I think in the Transfiguration story about being open to the simplicity of the Truth. Too often I think we try to overcomplicate and overthink the Truth. We try to overcomplicate and overthink our understanding of who God is and our relationship to God and His creation now and through all eternity. But like Peter, I think at some point we need to just stop talking and allow ourselves to witness to and try to absorb the simplicity of God’s saving message.
This has implications for the way I live my faith as an individual; for the way we try to cultivate discipleship in our family; for the way we organize and live our faith as the Church.
The Transfiguration is a powerful reading for us during Lent because it challenges us. It asks me to challenge my suppositions. Am I really on the right path? Or have I overcomplicated my faith life? Lent is a great time to stop babbling – stop running around like a hamster in a wheel, and like Peter just try to quietly absorb the simplicity of God’s saving message that comes to us through the blood of Jesus Christ.
Homework. I encourage you to reflect on the following two questions.
Why do the simple disciplines of Lent that we started seem too much?
Why is silence (letting go of thoughts like during meditative or contemplative prayer) so challenging?
I think by doing our homework, we might develop a better understanding of the challenges we need to overcome as we try to deepen our relationship with Jesus as his disciples. Do you got it? Are you going to do it? Well, good! May each of us come to know the grace and peace of Jesus Christ. May Almighty God bless you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. +Amen!
“…I saw two roads. One was broad, covered with sand and flowers, full of joy, music and all sorts of pleasures. People were walking along it, dancing and enjoying themselves. They reached the end without realizing it. And at the end of the road there was a horrible precipice; that is, the abyss of hell. The souls fell blindly into it; as they walked, so they fell. And their number was so great that it was impossible to count them. And I saw the other road, or rather, a path, for it was narrow and strewn with thorns and rocks; and the people who walked along it had tears in their eyes, and all kinds of suffering befell them. Some fell down upon the rocks, but stood up immediately and went on. At the end of the road there was a magnificent garden filled with all sorts of happiness and all these souls entered there. At the very first instant they forgot all their sufferings,” (Diary, 153).<1>
That’s an excerpt of the work of Faustina Kowalska, a holy woman who received amazing visions during her lifetime both at Vilnius and in Cracow in the 1930s. The work is called the Diary of St. Faustina. This particular vision is troubling, but it fits so well with our readings for the First Sunday of Lent. Let’s start with Paul.
St. Paul says, “…for, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved,” (Rom 10:X). Is that all there is to it?
But wait, doesn’t Scripture also tell us that the devil believes that Jesus is the “son of the Most high God,” (Luke 8:28)?
And doesn’t Jesus warn us in Scripture, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,” (Matthew 7:21)?
What are we to make of all of this? Like Faustina’s vision suggests, there are many who confess Jesus as Lord and believe they are saved, but they are on the wrong path. But how can this be? How is it possible that someone who has been saved can fall from grace into the waiting hands of the devil? One word: temptation.
In today’s Gospel, the devil tempts Jesus. So this is a good time to reflect on the ways we might be tempted by the devil, tempted to, perhaps inadvertently, abandon Jesus. Is it bad to be tempted? No. Temptation makes us stronger if we can recognize the temptation and like Jesus if we can send the devil packing.
How does all this work? Well to answer that, we need to go back to the beginning.
In Genesis, the serpent speaks to the first humans. If you put yourself in that story, you can almost hear that serpent say, “Good? You’re not good! You’re human. Look at yourselves! You’re filthy! If you want to be good, then you need to be like God and if you want to be God, then you need to eat the fruit of this tree.”<2>
Do you see the subtly? Jewish scholars suggest that evil doesn’t enter the world with the original sin, but rather with the first temptation. And what was the first temptation? Doubting the goodness of God’s creation. Doubting that we’re good enough or perhaps believing that we deserve better.
That’s a message we hear all the time, isn’t it? You’re not good enough, or you deserve more. Advertisers tell us you can never be happy until you have this new gadget, or that new vitamin, or that new elective procedure that will have you looking great. Or you deserve that new gadget or special pampering or that elective procedure.
But there’s another dimension to temptation.
I think we all have examples in our lives, either personally or through people we know or people we see in shows, who insist they deserve so much more than they have. So, they set unachievable standards for the people in their lives, like their spouses or their children, and when they can’t achieve it, they bully them. They’ll say something like, “This wasn’t my dream!” Or perhaps they’ll say, “You promised me more!” Or maybe they’ll say, “Why can’t you be like so-and-so?”
The person who indulges this kind of temptation holds becomes consumed by all sorts of resentment and anger and hurt and it transforms into a kind of venom that they spew whenever they can. But this venom affects them too. It can physically affect them causing all sorts of illnesses or deep psychological problems.
But here’s the kicker. That person might very well be the sort of person who goes to church, who will jump up and down with their hands raised to heaven and yell, “Jesus is Lord!”
But how can we meet Jesus if we’re filled with such anger and resentments? Jesus doesn’t say, treat those around you cruelly because you were made for more. No! He says, “This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another,” (John 13:35) – love, not hatred or resentment or anger or jealousy. Love is the path of the disciple.
Lent is a time when we try to grow in holiness. That’s what the spiritual exercises of prayer, fasting and almsgiving are all about. Prayer, fasting and almsgiving should lead us to simplification and purification. Our spiritual exercises should help us remember that God, not myself – not my ego, is the center of my reality.
So, we need to confront and conquer temptations as Jesus did. You see, our temptations often show us areas in our lives where we have the opportunity to grow in love. Failure is not bad. Failure teaches us wisdom. But that only works if we are aware, so we need to take the time to see them for what they are. This isn’t a time to beat ourselves up nor is it a time to strive for some kind of holier-than-though perfection. But we need to take time so that we can recognize the temptations and deal with them. And that leads us to our homework today.
Homework!
Today try an examination of conscience. Take just five minutes before bed to reflect on your day. Here are some east steps to follow. First, ask the Holy Spirit for help. Second, reflect back on your day, remembering moments of grace and moments of sin. Third, thank God for His blessings. Fourth, say a penitential prayer, that is to say, say a prayer asking for forgiveness, like an Act of Contrition. And finally make a resolution to live with a greater openness to God tomorrow. Doing an examination of conscience helps us be more mindful of our temptations and trials and that can truly lead us deeper into the arms of our Father.
If you still haven’t found something to do this Lent, perhaps you could try an examination of conscience every night.
Do you got? Are you going to try it? Please do! May each of us come to know the mercy and love of Jesus Christ. May Almighty God bless you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. +Amen!
Notes
<1> Faustina. Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul. Stockbridge, MA: Marian Press, 2014, 153.
<2> Himes, Michael J. The Mystery of Faith: An Introduction to Catholicism. Cincinnati, OH: St. Anthony Messenger Press, 2004, LOC 348.
Act of Contrition
O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because of Thy just punishments, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, Who art all-good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasions of sin.
OR
My God, I am sorry for my sins with all my heart. In choosing to do wrong and failing to do good, I have sinned against you whom I should love above all things. I firmly intend, with your help, to do penance, to sin no more, and to avoid whatever leads me to sin. Our Savior Jesus Christ suffered and died for us. In his name, my God, have mercy.
OR
O my God, I am sorry for my sins because I have offended you. I know I should love you above all things. Help me to do penance, to do better, and to avoid anything that might lead me to sin. Amen.
OR
I confess to almighty God, and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have sinned through my own fault, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done, and in what I have failed to do; and I ask blessed Mary, ever virgin, all the angels and saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.
Picture: Christ in the Wilderness by Ivan Kramskoy, Google Cultural Institute. COPYRIGHT FREE. The author died in 1887, so this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 100 years or less. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1924.
