Third Sunday of Lent
Today on the Third Sunday of Lent, the Gospel reading is from Luke 13:1-9. In the first part of the Gospel, Jesus speaks to a group of people about the Galileans killed by Pilate and the eighteen people killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them. He says, “These people that died were not greater sinners or more guilty than anyone else — but if the rest of you do not repent, you will perish as they did.” In the second part of the Gospel, Jesus tells a parable about a fig tree that did not bear fruit, so the owner told the gardener to cut it down. The gardener asked to take care of it for one more year to see if it would bear fruit before cutting it down.
This Gospel dives into how we frequently judge others but it’s not often that we think about what we do wrong. With this in mind, we need to think less about what goes on in the lives of people that do not impact us and more about what we can do to be more like Christ, especially in this time of Lent. In order to do this, we need to allow the Lord to enter into our lives. We can picture ourselves in the parable of the fig tree as the owner of the fig tree. We need to allow the gardener to work to bring fruit from the fig tree — and know that it will take time for it to happen. You may wonder who the gardener is in our lives. He is none other than God, so we need to give God control of taking care of our needs so we can focus on ourselves instead of those around us.
Some ways that we can allow the Lord to enter into our lives are: inviting the Holy Spirit into prayer, attending daily Mass (if possible), going to Adoration, and another good one is going to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. A simple way to invite the Holy Spirit to come is by simply saying, “Come, Holy Spirit.” We don’t often remember to allow the Holy Spirit to come into our lives. We invite Him in by going to Mass when possible to receive the Eucharist, which is the Body of Christ, and allowing Him to fill our hearts. In Adoration, we can sit in the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and speak directly to Him. We can go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation to be cleansed from our sins and be reunited with Christ.
— Aramiz Martinez & Jared Alamo, 2024-25 Missionary Staff