Stations of the Cross every week day following 5:30 mass during Lent

 

3rd Sunday Lent C

Message from Fr. Brito:

      In the gospel and the second reading, we are presented with warnings. This is not the time to relax, but it is our time to act. The gospel begins with Jesus responding to correct the bad thinking of the people.

The people were making wrong assumptions about others who had experienced tragedy. Both the good and the bad can experience tragic events and even sudden death. We just have to be always ready to give an account of our lives.

      The Lord tells us the parable of the fig tree that does not bear fruit. This fig tree is like us when we become selfish. Like the fig tree, we all have a potential to do good and to bear fruit. When the fig tree produces fruit it is doing what it was made to do. When we turn away from selfishness and start sharing our gifts with our brothers and sisters we are also fulfilling our potential. Good and bad things happen to the good and the bad. We just have to be always ready to give the Lord an account of our lives. The Lord will ask us: “What did you do with the life that I gave you?”

        Listen to what St. Paul writes about his ancestors who were punished by God:

"These things happened as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil things, as they dido.

Do not grumble as some of them did, and suffered death by the destroyer. These things happened to them as an example, and they have been written down as a warning to us, upon whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore, whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall.”

     Now I want to look at the Gardener in the parable. What can we learn from him? His attitude towards the fig tree is one of encouragement and support. The gardener is going to do all he can to encourage the fruitfulness of the fig tree. Jesus is like this Gardener, alway encouraging us to do good which in turn will produce good fruit. Can we be like the gardener to our brothers and sisters to encourage their fruitfulness in this life. We are too quick to want to cut someone down who is wasting their lives through selfishness. There are people who encourage and discourage us in our lives. Which one do you want to be? The question we can ask is: how have I encouraged others? Let us be like the gardener and encourage fruitfulness in others.

May the Lord bless us today and always and that we may always be ready to give an account of our lives. Amen