Dear friends,
Today’s parable of the fig tree reminds me of my childhood when we were going farming with my mother. The purpose of working around the different plants we had in the farm was to make them bear fruit. Every energy was directed towards the harvest and we would even imagine – fantasize – the outcome once the products a ripe. At that time, we would very seldom think about a single corn that would not bear fruit. We always thought of them fruitful and flourishing.
Why would a farmer think about his plants not bearing fruit? There was no reason because we gave them nutrients, we pulled weed that would choke them and we made sure everything was taken care of. Disappointment comes from the realization that the plants we watered and spent time and energy for would not bear fruit. They would just remain barren. So as a child of farmer, I really get it. The gardener’s anger would also be mine and I remember my own anger whenever I could not find, ripe peppers, tomatoes and corns at the harvest season while we put and did everything at our power to make them fruitful. Why then should they exhaust the soil? The solution was to pull them up and throw them away.
This parable renders more understandable our Lenten season. Everyone of us is like that fig tree which Jesus, the Gardener, waters and protect to bear fruit. The word of God is preached and explained to us, the sacraments are provided and celebrated to strengthen our relationship with God and with one another, devotional activities are organized… All these are the different ways Jesus waters us to make us grow and produce fruit. Unfortunately, in so many ways we just remain fruitless. Every time to come to mass; every time we listen to the word of God or we celebrate the sacraments, it is the opportunity Jesus gives us to be pruned and to bear fruit.
Don’t we say that we are God’s garden? Yes, indeed that is who we are. However, contrarily to ordinary garden that is watered just for the sake of being beautiful, God’s garden has another purpose, namely, to bear fruit. If Jesus waters and prunes us it is for us to be just beautiful. The purpose of all that is so that we may bear fruit. And those fruits are love, compassion, mercy, temperance, fear of the Lord, and fortitude. The latter is mostly needed today as we face the challenges that seek to make us keep silent in front of the so much suffering inflicted to the world. We are disciples, are meant to manifest God’s love through our love and service for those who suffer and the less fortunate.
Lent is the time we are afforded that opportunity. Let us not just exhaust the soil as we listen to the word of God and partake in the body and blood of Christ. Let us be transformed at the encounter with the Lord and make our actions, words and lives the signs and proofs of the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. And let us continue to pray for one another and for our parish family.
Fr. Emery