'Sir, let it alone this year.' Sunday Reflections, 3rd Sunday of Lent, Year C

 

Moses removing his sandals (detail)

Byzantine Mosaic Artist [Web Gallery of Art]

Then [the Lord] said, ‘Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground (Exodus 3:5; First Reading).

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,)

Readings (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, India, Scotland) 

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Luke 13:1-9 (English Standard Version, Anglicised)

There were some present at that very time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, ‘Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.’

And he told this parable: ‘A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vine dresser, “Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?” And he answered him, “Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig round it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.” ’

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

         

Month of September or Parable of the Fig Tree

Abel Grimmer [Web Gallery of Art]

A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none (Luke 13:6; Gospel).

More than 40 years ago  a friend brought me to visit a widow in her 80s in Long Island, New York. I was spending a month working in a nearby parish. I remember clearly that the woman, whom I never met again, was feisty and we had lively discussions on a number of matters, expressing different views but with good humour and respect.

But what I remember most clearly was that when I put something on top of her Bible on the sideboard she very gently but very clearly and firmly pointed out to me that that book was God's word and should be treated with the greatest respect. My friend was saying the equivalent of For the place on which you are standing is holy ground.

Torah Scroll (part of the Book of Genesis)

[Wikipedia; photo]

It was the same summer, 1982 if I remember correctly, when a fire broke out in a synagogue in Boston. It held precious copies of the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible (what Christians call the Old Testament), including the Book of Exodus from which today's First Reading is taken, and the rabbi wanted to save them. But the firefighters would not allow him to go inside because it was too dangerous. However, the Catholic chaplain of the fire department was there and insisted on going in. He was able to save these precious copies of God's word.

Both of these incidents, one personal the other public, reminded me of the respect we owe to copies of the Bible and to the lectionaries we use at Mass for the reading of God's word. Above all, we are called to respect and to take to heart the Word that these books contain. I felt chastened by the quiet reprimand of the elderly woman in Long Island and a great sense of pride and gratitude for what my brother priest in Boston had done. He risked his life to save precious copies of God's word. 

In today's First Reading God reveals to Moses Who He is: God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I am has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: 'The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name for ever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations."

God also shows himself to be a God who hears and loves his people: Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them . . . 

The Responsorial Psalm reveals  a God who crowns you with love and compassion (Jerusalem Bible). The New English Bible, which is not used in any of our lectionaries, translates that line beautifully this way: God surrounds me with constant love, with tender affection.

A Fig Tree

[Wikipedia; photo]

We see the compassion of God in the parable of the fig tree that Jesus tells in today's gospel. The owner wants to cut it down as it hasn't given fruit for three years. But the vine-dresser intervenes: ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig round it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

This is an open-ended parable that invites us, with God's grace, to help bring about a life-giving conclusion to the story. Jesus told this story just after saying, No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

Jesus is not a cuddly teddy bear but One preparing to die for us on the Cross. He is the Word of God who became Man to reveal God's love for us to the greatest extent possible.

Lent is a time of repentance, a time of fasting, a time to go to confession, a time for priests to make it possible for the people they serve to do that. We priests are like the vine dresser in the parable, pleading with God on behalf of the people we serve, as Moses did. One of his greatest traits of was how often he prayed for his people while at the same time expressing his frustration with them for not following God's law.

With the free will that God has given us comes responsibility: No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

This hard saying of Jesus is also an expression of the word of God from the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us.

Communion Antiphon Cf Ps 83 [84]:4-5

The sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for her young: by your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.

Blessed are they who dwell in your house, for ever singing your praise.

Traditional Latin Mass

Third Sunday in Lent

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 03-23-2025 if necessary).

Epistle: Ephesians 3:1-9.  Gospel: Luke 11:14-28.

St Paul at his Writing-desk

Rembrandt [Web Gallery of Art]

When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ (Ephesians 3:4; Epistle)

'Keep the commandments of the Lord your God with which I am charging you.' Sunday Reflections, 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

The Scullery Maid, Giuseppe Maria Crespi [Web Gallery of Art]

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Gospel Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 (New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition)

Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.)  So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, ‘Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?’ He said to them, ‘Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,

“This people honours me with their lips,
    but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
    teaching human precepts as doctrines.”

‘You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.’

Then he called the crowd again and said to them, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.

‘For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.’

Silver Torah Case [Wikipedia]

Moses said to the people: 'So now, Israel, give heed to the statutes and ordinances that I am teaching you to observe, so that you may live to enter and occupy the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. You must neither add anything to what I command you nor take away anything from it, but keep the commandments of the Lord your God with which I am charging you.' (First Reading).

A silver cup for for netilat yadayim, the Jewish ritual washing of hands [Wikipedia]

The Indian Rupees 9,000 monthly rent mentioned in the video is the equivalent of about €110, US$128 or Php6,800 (August 2018).

More than six years ago I was speaking to a Filipino seminarian who had worked in Dubai for some years. He had been quite involved in his parish at home and wanted to visit a group of Catholics from Kerala, India, who lived in a labour camp in Dubai. His friends thought he was crazy but he went anyway. He simply wanted to befriend these men whose living conditions he had heard about.

What he described was what I've found subsequently in videos such as the one above, which is from an Indian TV station, except that in my imagination I had pictured World War II-type wooden huts instead of big buildings not unlike apartment blocks in large cities.

The men made him most welcome. The air inside was just as the reporter in the video described. His hosts were preparing a meal outside their crowded bedroom. They didn't see much need to wash their hands or their utensils and what they were preparing was somewhat more spicy than what Filipinos normally eat.

But the young Filipino enjoyed being with his fellow Catholics, whom he knew were his brothers. He could see clearly their living conditions and was able to understand some of their stories. But what struck him most of all was their hospitality.

The Pharisees and scribes in today's gospel ask Jesus, Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?

Louis Pasteur in his Laboratory, Albert Edelfeldt [Wikipedia]

I don't think that Jesus is telling us to be careless with food, in preparing it or eating it. Scientists such as Louis Pasteur have shown us the importance of doctors washing their hands and equipment before surgery, a connection that hadn't been seen before. But what Jesus is on about, I think, is the attitude of someone who would notice that the workers from Kerala in a 'villa' in Dubai didn't wash their hands before cooking and eating and would be critical of them - instead of asking why the washing facilities they shared with so many others were lacking. Someone who would fail to see the overcrowded living quarters and the underpaid workers, separated from their families, being exploited by their employers and by recruiting agencies in their own countries.

The situation my young Filipino friend came across in Dubai can be found in many countries. The term 'OFW' is widely used in the Philippines. It means 'Overseas Filipino Worker'. OFWs are often described by politicians as modern-day heroes. But too few politicians and others are asking why so many, probably a minority in the overall picture but yet a large number of individual real persons, are exploited by some agencies at home and by employers abroad. In reality, these are treated as anything but heroes.

Nor is Jesus opposing tradition or traditions. He was a faithful Jew, as were Joseph and Mary and understood their importance. Tradition and traditions, even if we don't know their origins, are basically life-giving. The Pharisees and scribes  in today's gospel - not all Pharisees and scribes were like these - have turned them into ways of sucking the lifeblood out of people.

Reb Tevye in the extract from Fiddler on the Roof below says, And because of our traditions, every one of us knows who he is and what God expects him to do. The exploited workers from Kerala carried with them the tradition of hospitality they had inherited from their ancestors and welcomed a stranger from the Philippines in Dubai. Despite their appalling conditions they knew who they were. They lacked freedom in so many ways but they had the freedom to be welcoming. Hospitality is one of the most cherished experiences in the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments. It is cherished in every culture and it is at the heart of following Jesus, who showed hospitality to others, rich and poor, and who graciously accepted it from others, rich and poor. Indeed, he was sometimes criticised for eating with the poor, as he is in today's gospel because his companions didn't wash their hands.

I don't know if the workers from Kerala whom my friend met had a chance to go to Mass. He did as he lived very near a church. But the Prayer after Communion today fits in with their meeting in Dubai.

Renewed by this bread from the heavenly table, 
we beseech you, Lord, 
that, being the food of charity, 
it may confirm our hearts 
and stir us to serve you in our neighbour. 
Through Christ our Lord.

And because of our traditions everyone knows who he is and what God expects him to do.

This setting by  Seán Ó Riada of the Our Father in Irish was sung last Sunday at the closing Mass of this year's World Meeting of Families in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, with Pope Francis as the main celebrant.