The Third Sunday in Lent

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.’”

We are all called to bear good fruit for our Heavenly Father. Every day of our lives we make choices that determine if our fruit will be sweetened by holiness or rotted by sin. Each day that passes without us producing good works is another day that God finds nothing on our branches. The longer we go without a yield, the more God’s Justice cries out for us to be cut down. Thankfully, Jesus, the Gardener of our souls, pleads with our Father to have patience and gives us every grace and chance we need to become fruitful servants. However, Jesus cannot make us bloom without our acceptance of his aid and he cannot nurture our souls if we cut ourselves off from him through sin. In order to grow as Christians and bear good fruit, we need to allow God to cultivate our souls through our fasting, almsgiving, and prayer.

Are we prepared for the day when God shall come to us seeking a harvest? Are we willing to let Jesus cultivate our souls so that they grow in grace and goodness? What acts of fasting, almsgiving, and prayer can we make in order for our souls to flourish?

O Lord, at times we have been barren, but by your grace we will bear good fruit from now on.

Amen.