Mass Reading & Meditation for October 24, 2009

Catholic Meditations
Meditation: Luke 13:1-9

How many parents do you know who, at one point or another, have had to threaten their child with some kind of serious consequence for bad behavior?

Hopefully the threat is given in love and from a desire to form the child properly. Good parents will do whatever is necessary to nurture and teach their children, and sometimes a threat is exactly what is needed to motivate and teach the child. Today’s Gospel reading, the parable of the fig tree, contains this kind of “Do it or else” warning—only this time from God! If we want to understand the nature of his warning, however, we need to step back and take a look at the bigger picture of why God takes our behavior so seriously.

God has given us many talents and gifts, and he wants to see us cultivate them in a way that makes us able to bear fruit for his kingdom. He loves watching us grow and develop not only because it gives him glory but also because we are happiest when we are at our most productive. He also knows that sins of selfishness, pride, or neglect have a way of limiting the fruit we can bear because they weigh us down and separate us from him. This is why it is vital that we be found hard at work strengthening our gifts and putting them to work for the good of others.

Jesus is not just telling a good story about fruitfulness here. He is also giving us a warning. He wants us to know that he is always with us, ready to help us as we seek to cultivate our talents. But he is also warning us that unless we cultivate the habits of self-examination, humility, and repentance, we risk being cut off from him, the source of all life, and ending up barren.

Fortunately, we have the gift of repentance to help us turn back to the Lord and to make us fruitful once again. Repentance has the power to purify our hearts and our minds. It frees us up so that we can move out into the world healed and hopeful, ready to serve the Lord and his people. Do you need to wipe your slate clean? Confess your sins, and let Jesus, the good gardener, cultivate you so that you can bear fruit wherever you go.

“Lord, examine me and search me, so that I can become as fruitful as possible. Come, Holy Spirit, and cultivate your gifts in me. Let me become a living witness of the love and power of God for all those around me.”

Romans 8:1-11; Psalm 24:1-6