Blog - April 2019 RSS Feed

Today’s readings give us plenty of imagery to latch onto. In the First Reading, there’s the burning bush from which God speaks to Moses, and then there’s the parable of the fig tree where God plays the role of the merciful gardener. But the one line that galvanized, that brought a “call to action” for me in these readings was the last line of the Second Reading, where Paul says, “Whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall.” Yes, the Lord is kind and merciful, but we bear a responsibility to allow him to fertilize our minds and change our way of thinking, so that we become fruit-bearing fig trees in his orchard.

The profound statement that we just heard from Jesus, "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters" leaves no doubt for us on our Lenten journey today. There is no neutral ground. We make no progress on our journey when one of our feet is on the path of holiness and the other foot is on the world's path. Mark Twain had this humorous quote, saying, “I don’t like to commit myself between heaven and hell, you see, I have friends in both places.” If he wasn't just saying this in jest, we know that he was grossly missing the mark. Whether we like it or not, we have to make a choice, and we have to express our commitment to that choice.

Though we may be extremely devoted to our faith, there’s a temptation on all of our parts at times to not capitalize on the opportunities that come our way, to convince those that are skeptical, about God’s love. In the Gospel, Jesus shows us how to overcome our aversion to speak the truth.