From the responsorial psalm: “I rejoiced because they said to me, “We will go up to the house of the LORD.” And now we have set foot within your gates, O Jerusalem. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 13:1-9)
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.’”
Before sharing this parable with his listeners, Jesus responds to their interpretation about Pilate’s brutal act toward Jewish people, concluding that this is a demonstration of God’s treatment of the worst sinners. Jesus calls all who would hear him to turn away from sin and toward God: “I tell you,” he says, “if you do not repent, you will all perish.” In the parable, the fig tree symbolizes Israel. In judgment of Israel, God possesses both the truth of justice and the truth of mercy. Instead of cutting it down, the gardener asks to care for it another year, nurturing it so that it ultimately bears fruit. In God’s perfect judgment, he does the same for us, showing mercy to the contrite time and again in spite of our sins.
God, help me today remain faithful to you. Faithful to your plan for me and trusting in your mercy, give me the grace to remain in you. I don’t want to be the one who exhausts the soil but instead who produces fruit from the gifts of your grace and mercy. Jesus, I trust in you! Blessed Virgin Mary, pray for us!
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
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