Catholic Caucus: Sunday Mass Readings, 03-03-13, Third Sunday of Lent

ONE MORE CHANCE

(A biblical reflection on the 3^rd Sunday of Lent, Year C – 3^rd of March 2013)

First Reading: Ex 3:1-8,13-15; Psalms: Ps 103:1-4,6-8,11; Second Reading: 1Cor 10:1-6,10-12; Gospel Reading: Luke 13:1-9

Today’s Gospel gives us two other examples of disasters that occurred in Christ’s lifetime. One of the incidents was the ruthless murder of some Galileans while they were in the middle of their Temple sacrifices. The victims were probably political agitators and this was Pilate’s way of silencing them.

The other incident was a construction accident which happened near the Temple during the building of a water aquaduct. Apparently it was a project hated by the Jews because Temple funds were stolen by Pilate to finance it.

These two incidents are brought up because the Jews presumed that those who were killed were being punished by God for their sins. But Jesus denies this. Instead, He asserts that what really destroys life is our unwillingness to repent and change our lives.

Jesus says, not once, but twice by way of emphasis: “Unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.” The repetition of this teaching is followed by a parable about a fig tree.

Usually it takes a fig tree three years to mature and bear fruit. If it is not producing fruit by that time, it likely never will and so it can be cut down. But this fig tree had already been given twice the allotted number of years it takes to produce fruit, for the owner of the vineyard had allowed three more years to pass in fruitless expectation.

And yet, the owner will give the fig tree still one more chance. His vinedressers will do even more than is necessary to help by hoeing and maturing it. All this on the grounds of a perhaps or a maybe.

This parable is a perennial one for us. Every Lent God gives us one more chance to produce more fruit in our lives. God is more than generous with the opportunities He gives us to reform our lives.

All of us have some areas that need changing: maybe we watch too much television, smoke too often or eat the wrong kind of food; perhaps we criticize too much, are too impatient or too demanding; maybe we waste too much time, neglect our work or avoid unpleasant tasks.

But if year after year our lives are fruitless in personal growth, sterile in prayer and empty of good works, then we are a barren fig tree. We can’t blame accidents or sickness or other people for our condition. We have to take responsibility for our own lives.

Even terminal cancer patients can cultivate the will to live productively with the time they have left. For example, before she died, Jory Graham wrote a newspaper column to encourage other victims of cancer. Even amputes can take on new challenges. For example, Ted Kennedy, Jr. relearned how to ski.

What destroys life in us then are not accidents or tragedies, but our unwillingness to accept difficulties and overcome them; to accept suffering and transform it. What makes our lives fruitless are not their circumstances or limitations, but our refusal to give it one more try and hoe our ground for one more year.

This Lent is a season of grace. It may be our last one as it was for the people who died since last Easter. Now is the time for us to reform our lives so that they will be more productive. Now is the time to make whatever changes are necessary so that our fig tree in the Lord’s vineyard will bear more fruit in personal growth, prayer and community service.

Note: Taken from Fr. Albert Cylwicki CSB, HIS WORD RESOUNDS, Makati, Philippines: ST. PAUL PUBLICATIONS, 1991, pages 220-221.

Marriage = One Man and One Woman

Til' Death Do Us Part

Daily Marriage Tip for March 3, 2013:

The story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:5-42) is about secrets and conundrums: how to get water, how many husbands, secret food. Spouses should keep no secrets from each other. Is there something you don’t understand about your beloved?

Sunday Scripture Study

Third Sunday of Lent - Cycle C

March 3, 2013

Click here for USCCB readings

Opening Prayer

First Reading: Exodus 3:1-8a,13-15

Psalm: 103:1-4,6-8,11

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 10:1-6,10-12

Gospel Reading: Luke 13:1-9

In this Sunday’s Gospel reading, Jesus has just finished a long discourse on the need to be prepared for his Coming (Luke 12). He then uses two incidents from the current events of his day—the slaughter of a group of Galileans by Pontius Pilate, and the deadly collapse of a tower, killing 18 bystanders—to emphasize the urgency of repentance.

Though neither event is recorded outside the Scriptures, the first tragedy, according to the Jewish historian Josephus, would not be out of character for the Roman governor of Judea Pontius Pilate as he was known to have committed similar atrocities. As for the Tower of Siloam, the ruins can be seen in Jerusalem to this day. In Jesus’ time it was common belief that most misfortune experienced by people was punishment for sin (Job 31:3; Proverbs 10:24, John 9:24-34), a view Jesus did not share (John 9:1-3).

What Jesus wishes to emphasize is that just like the owner of the fig tree in the parable, God out of his great mercy (Ezekiel 33:11; Romans 2:14; 2 Peter 3:1-16), gives us ample— although not unlimited —time to, as John the Baptist says in Matthew 3:8, “bear fruit that befits repentance” (in New Testament Greek, metanoeo—literally, to change one’s mind for the better).

QUESTIONS:

In the First Reading, God reveals very clearly to Moses who he is and how it is his people can come to know him. How do you keep before you the identity of God and his holiness, and your need of repentance before him? How can you do this better?

In verses 6-9, whom does the fig tree represent? The owner? The gardener?

How do the incidents of Pilate’s bloodshed (verse 1) and the collapsing tower of Siloam (verse 4) provide examples of the urgency of repentance?

What is the danger of associating someone’s misfortune with sin (verses 2, 4)?

How do you treat newspaper accounts of tragic deaths? How often do they remind you of your mortality and of your own need of repentance? If they have not, how should you take advantage of Jesus’ admonition (verses 3, 5)?

If you had one more year like the fig tree to turn your life around, what would you do? What fruit do you want to be producing by this time next year?

Catechism of the Catholic Church: §§ 1427--1439

Your duty is to sanctify yourself. Yes, even you. Who thinks that this task is only for priests and religious? To everyone, without exception, our Lord said: ‘Be ye perfect, as My Heavenly Father is Perfect.’ --St. Josemaria Escriva

“Why Did This Happen?”

Pastor’s Column

3^rd Sunday of Lent

March 3, 2013

Haven’t we all at times wanted to ask God, “Why did this happen?” This is precisely what Jesus is asked in this Sunday’s gospel (Luke 13:1-9). “Why did all those people die when the tower in Siloam collapsed? Why were those Jews put to death by Pilate? Were their sins greater than others? Did they somehow ‘deserve’ what happened to them?” Often enough, we have similar questions for God! One has only to read the daily papers to see some perceived injustice done to someone, and we want to know why? Did they deserve it? Or, “Why did this happen to me? Did I somehow deserve this?”

I asked myself this very question recently. “Why,” I asked God, “must I get the flu, and then such a backache (from coughing) that I have to be sick two Sundays in a row? Did I do something to ‘deserve’ this, Lord?” I admit, it’s a trivial question compared to many others, such as the death of a loved one or other grave losses we all must face periodically. We find that Jesus gives a partial answer to questions like this in our gospel today.

The Jews of Jesus’ time felt that there must have been a direct connection between the sins of these people (or their families) and their violent deaths, but Jesus doesn’t draw this connection directly. It is true, of course, that many sins we commit do have grave consequences that we have no trouble recognizing. For example, if someone commits adultery, that should not be surprised if their marriage dissolves. If one is impaired by alcohol or drugs and gets behind the wheel of a car, they should not be surprised if a tragic accident follows. A person who steals from their employer ‘deserves’ to be fired.

Jesus’ answer here is very instructive: he points out that just because all these people died when a tower fell, doesn’t mean they were bigger sinners than anyone else. Instead, when we are confronted by such tragedies, the proper way of looking at it, according to Jesus, is to realize that this could have been me. This could have happened to me. I need to repent because it may be later than I think!

Sometimes we need to remember that heaven is the time when every question will be answered. Jesus himself said of heaven, “On that day, you will have no more questions to ask me” (John 16:23). Either we will know everything then, or it won’t matter anymore! But here on earth, Jesus continually directs the focus of our lives on the one thing that really does matter: saving our souls; keeping our faith in Jesus. This means loving God and watching very carefully how we treat our neighbor.

Sometimes we can come to understand why things happen in the world we live in, and sometimes we must wait for the answers, but when the focus of our lives is on pleasing God and keeping his commandments, we will always find the right answers in the end.

Father Gary

St. Paul Center Blog

Fruits of the Fig: Scott Hahn Reflects on the 3rd Sunday of Lent

Posted by Dr. Scott Hahn on 03.01.13 |

Exodus 3:1-8,13-15
Psalm 103:1-4, 6-8, 11
1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12
Luke 13:1-9

In the Church, we are made children of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - the God who makes known His name and His ways to Moses in today’s First Reading.

Mindful of His covenant with Abraham (see Exodus 2:24), God came down to rescue His people from the slave-drivers of Egypt. Faithful to that same covenant (see Luke 1:54-55, 72-73), He sent Jesus to redeem all lives from destruction, as today’s Psalm tells us.

Paul says in today’s Epistle that God’s saving deeds in the Exodus were written down for the Church, intended as a prelude and foreshadowing of our own Baptism by water, our liberation from sin, our feeding with spiritual food and drink.

Yet the events of the Exodus were also given as a “warning” - that being children of Abraham is no guarantee that we will reach the promised land of our salvation.

At any moment, Jesus warns in today’s Gospel, we could perish - not as God’s punishment for being “greater sinners” - but because, like the Israelites in the wilderness, we stumble into evil desires, fall into grumbling, forget all His benefits.

Jesus calls us today to “repentance” - not a one-time change of heart, but an ongoing, daily transformation of our lives. We’re called to live the life we sing about in today’s Psalm - blessing His holy name, giving thanks for His kindness and mercy.

The fig tree in His parable is a familiar Old Testament symbol for Israel (see Jeremiah 8:3; 24:1-10). As the fig tree is given one last season to produce fruit before it is cut down, so too Jesus is giving Israel one final opportunity to bear good fruits as evidence of its repentance (see Luke 3:8).

Lent should be for us like the season of reprieve given to the fig tree, a grace period in which we let “the gardener,” Christ, cultivate our hearts, uprooting what chokes the divine life in us, strengthening us to bear fruits that will last into eternity.

3rd Sunday of Lent -- Awe and Wonder before God

"I am who am"

Sunday Word: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/030313-third-sunday-lent.cfm

Ex 3: 1-8, 13-15
1 Cor 10: 1-6, 10-12
Lk 13: 1-9

The ever popular movie, The Wizard of Oz is a story essentially about a quest for identity. The virtues of courage (the lion), compassion (the heart of the tin man), and intelligence (a brain for the scarecrow), and Dorothy’s desire for “home,” all engage us in our own self-awareness.

Ultimately, they travel to the mythical kingdom of Oz in search for these virtues from the wizard who they assume can grant them these traits. Once they enter his throne room, they encounter a blazing ball of fire and an over powering voice which states “Come no closer. I am the great and powerful Wizard of Oz!”

Frightened, the three strange companions of Dorothy scatter in fear but Dorothy herself boldly approaches the smoke and fire of the Wizard and dares him to grant their request. She displays courage, wisdom, and compassion for her friends and meets the wizard on his own terms. Once she returns home, was it all a dream she wonders, she recognizes that the three companions were symbolic of character traits she could find among her own friends and family. In the end we discover that the wizard himself is all show. His awesome display of power, however, was convincing.

By contrast, this Sunday we are confronted with a less frightening display of power and a real presence that is anything but an illusion. There are no balls of fire or grand displays of command but a mysterious burning bush. The book of Exodus relates the familiar story of Moses and the bush which burns but is not consumed. Unlike the smoke and mirrors of the “Great and powerful Wizard of Oz” this fire is a living presence.

Moses, it seems, is not in search of any particular quest but rather, “. . . tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro . . . leading the flock across the desert, he came to Horeb . . . (Ex 31-2). While tending to his sheep, he spots a strange burning bush and forever his life changes. Moses approaches with feet unshod for he hears the voice from the bush say: “Remove the sandals from your feet for the place where you stand is holy ground. I am the God of your fathers . . .” (Ex 3) He confronts the living God; a God who invites us into a relationship with him; a God of mercy, and love.

This season of Lent can be for us a new recognition of God’s presence in our lives. While his presence is a constant, ours often is not. We’d sometime rather search for that “yellow brick road” rather than stay on task. Looking for God in all the wrong places or simply not at all rather than encountering him right at home.

God hides in the sign of the fire but the fire is not God, nor is the bush, but through his own creation – with a sign of consuming energy – God reveals himself to Moses and through Moses to . . . my people . . . (Ex 3) God is not satisfied with remaining distant and unapproachable. He desires a relationship with us.

The great theologian of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas, wrote a great deal on the nature of God. That God is existence itself. That God’s existence is what sustains every living being, creation itself. Because God has created all to be good, each being has its purpose and contributes to the good of creation. Humankind, of course, is of the greatest good and contributes to moral goodness in the world. Love, like God himself, is best when it is a self-giving love that mirrors its creator.

To encounter the living God, as we do in Word and Sacrament every time we gather at the Mass, may not be a burning bush or a ball of fire who tries to overwhelm us with illusory power but it is the silent yet life sustaining presence of the God who lifted the veil off his face for us in the person of Christ Jesus. He seeks our response; our loyalty to him, as did Jesus so often with his own disciples.

Yet, has the Mass and our faith in general become all about the “me” or all about this sacred encounter as a conscious response to God’s invitation of love? It is a balance between a gathering of family and friends for that sake alone and a gathering on sacred ground before the living and life-sustaining God who comes to us under the signs of word, bread and wine. Yet, have we lost a sense of the sacred and lost a sense of awe and wonder these days?

We have a diminshed respect for human life and have set up an entire class of the unborn human being which we have decided has no rights or legal protection. This has rippled out to the prevailing culture like water when a rock is thrown in. The single-minded effort to redefine marriage, the family, and the role of a parent has reduced the sacred to a level of distorted politics and bigotry. This Lent is a call to reclaim our stand before God, as Moses, with bare feet, on holy ground, with humility and wonder - to once again make room for God and his voice in my life.

Those who encounter us as believers who sometimes walk a different road should feel welcome to journey with us. Is your faith contagious to others? As we become living signs of Christ to others they should feel in us a faith reflected. God longs for relationship with him. How can I seek to deepen that truth in my life?

A Prayer for Communion

Son of the Living God,
Lord Jesus Christ,
Whose death
Willed by the Father,
Empowered by the Holy Spirit,
Restored the life of the world,
Deliver me from all my iniquities and from every evil
Through this most sacred Body and blood of yours.
Keep me always close to your commandments
And never allow me be separated from you.

(9^th century)

Fr. Tim

Insight Scoop

The Divine Name and the Mystery of God

A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for Sunday, March 3, 2013, the Third Sunday of Lent | Carl E. Olson

Readings:
• Ex 3:1-8a, 13-15
• Ps 103: 1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 11
• 1 Cor 10:1-6, 10-12
• Lk 13:1-9

When asked why they climb, professional mountaineers often give varied but interconnected reasons. They mention the challenge of doing something difficult and demanding, a deepening understanding of themselves, and, paradoxically, a loss of self-centeredness. In a similar way, those who spend time living alone in the wilderness can experience the same contemplative moments leading to a more honest and truthful view of themselves and others.

Mountains and desert play a prominent role throughout the Bible, not just on a physical plane, but on a spiritual level as well. Mountains were considered holy, ancient, and eternal; they were where God often met His prophets and people, as seen in last week’s Gospel reading describing the Transfiguration. The desert, as harsh as it was, often represented a place of safety, discipline, and waiting for the promises of God to come to fulfillment. If the mountain was where God would sometimes reveal Himself, the desert was where man’s trust in God was tested and increased.

Today’s reading from Exodus describes Moses, many years after leaving the Pharoah’s court in disgrace, tending sheep in the desert. Like another shepherd, David, he was toiling in anonymity—until he received the call of God at Horeb, the mountain of God. Also known as Mount Sinai, this was the same mountain that would shelter the prophet Elijah when he fled from Jezebel (1 Kings 19:8) and would, of course, be where Moses received the Commandments from God (Ex 19-20)

Moses’s encounter with the burning bush was as dramatic as it was mysterious. At first he was curious and then, upon realizing whose presence he was in, overcome with awe and fear, hiding his face. In remarking upon this encounter, the Catechism provides a simple but urgent lesson perfectly suited for Lent: “Faced with God's fascinating and mysterious presence, man discovers his own insignificance” (CCC 208). If there is anything clear about the name uttered before Moses, it is its mysterious nature: “In revealing his mysterious name, YHWH (‘I AM HE WHO IS’, ‘I AM WHO AM’ or ‘I AM WHO I AM’), God says who he is and by what name he is to be called. This divine name is mysterious just as God is mystery. It is at once a name revealed and something like the refusal of a name, and hence it better expresses God as what he is—infinitely above everything that we can understand or say…” (CCC 206).

Although God is mystery, in giving His name He reveals that He is personal, loving, and faithful. Having revealed His name to Moses, “He has made known his ways to Moses”, as today’s Psalm proclaims. He desires the salvation of His people and He provides a means for that salvation. And so Moses is called from tending the sheep of his father-in-law to tending a new flock, the people of God, leading them out of Egypt, through the desert, and, after forty years, to the edge of the Promises Land.

Today’s epistle makes a sacramental connection between the prophet Moses and the greatest prophet, Jesus Christ. The Israelites had experienced a sort of baptism (crossing the Red Sea) and Eucharist (miraculous manna and water); these prefigured the sacraments of the New Covenant established by Jesus, the New Moses. And yet the Israelites kept succumbing to idolatry. Saint Paul exhorted his readers in Corinth—who belonged to a church that was struggling with every type of scandal and sin—to learn from the mistakes made by the Israelites, for “these things happened as examples for us…” The lessons of the desert, if not learned and heeded, go to waste when those who think they are standing securely do not take care of their spiritual lives.

Lent is a microcosm of the mountains and deserts that every Christian travels between baptism and death. As the Holy Spirit helps us to understand ourselves better, we begin to recognize that our worth can be found in nothing else but the person of Jesus Christ. And He asks that we, in turn, bear the fruit of His life in us, so that we might give witness to the mystery of the God who is.

(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the March 11, 2007, edition of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)

Regnum Christi

Finding Fruit

| SPIRITUAL LIFE | SPIRITUALITY

Third Sunday of Lent

Luke 13:1-9

At that time some people who were present there told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. He said to them in reply, "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did! Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them -- do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!" 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.´"

Introductory Prayer: My Lord and my God! I believe that you came as my Savior. I know you wish to save me from everlasting harm. Thank you. I place all my trust in you. I love you, Lord, and I offer myself as an instrument for you to help others to know and love you, too.

Petition: Teach me, Lord, to repent, to turn to you and to spread your Good News.

1. Scandalized by Evil: It can happen that people become scandalized or doubt God because of the evil and suffering they see in the world around them. Christ shows us that this attitude is mistaken because God says, “I swear I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, but rather in the wicked man´s conversion, that he may live. Turn, turn from your evil ways!” (Ezekiel 33:11). God does no evil. It is we, his creatures, who do evil, and God suffers the consequences twice: He suffers when we reject him through our sins, and he then takes our sins upon himself and suffers on the Cross so that we might be redeemed. If anyone has a right to complain about the evil in the world, it is God. However, it is through forgiveness that God shows his power and his love. We should not be scandalized by evil, but examine our souls and repent of our own sinful deeds.

2. Wrath of God or Wrath of Man? “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). I am that tree which so far has given little or no fruit. Jesus is the gardener who sticks up for me and pleas to “fertilize me” instead of cutting me down. The fertilizer is Christ’s Body and Blood, which he sacrificed so that I might have life to the fullest. He wishes to give me his very self and to fill me with grace and thus “reconstruct” my weak, worn heart and person. What does he ask of me? I need to turn to him with both contrition for my sins and confidence in his healing love. I need to open myself to his saving grace. Am I fully aware of my need for Christ, and do I turn to him hungrily? If not, why not?

3. Finding Figs: “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). After three years of public ministry, we see in today’s Gospel that Jesus is ready to put his life on the line for me – but does the Son of Man find any faith or love in my heart? “God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17). He will soon shed his blood under Pontius Pilate – for my sins. Will he find my tree barren and grant me this one last “year” of mercy? Or will he find my tree blooming with sweet-smelling fruits in good works performed out of love for him? He will hang from a dead tree on Good Friday, and his corpse, given out of love for me, will become real fruit, real moisture and fertilizer to my arid soul. Let him make of me a fruitful fig tree, so that others, too, may come to repentance on my account.

Conversation with Christ: Teach me, Lord, to repent, to turn to you, and to spread your Good News. I believe in your mission of saving souls, including mine. I hope in you because of the time of mercy that you grant me. I want to love by spreading the Good News of your salvation. Let me be a messenger of your love.

Resolution: I will serve others by voicing Christian hope in my conversations today.

One Bread, One Body

<< Sunday, March 3, 2013 >>

Third Sunday of Lent

Exodus 3:1-8, 13-15
1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12
View Readings

Psalm 103:1-4, 6-8, 11
Luke 13:1-9

THE VIEW FROM THE CROSS

"I want you to remember this..." —1 Corinthians 10:1

When you're talking with Jesus, it seems like He's always changing the subject to repentance. You might mention how tragic the destruction of the Twin Towers was (see Lk 13:4). Jesus somehow maneuvers the conversation to our need to reform (see Lk 13:4-5). You might mention to Him how pretty your Church building looks (see Mk 13:1ff). But Jesus turns the conversation into the need to be watchful and on guard against tragedy and sin. You're hard at work, and Jesus talks about reforming your life (Mt 4:17). Why is repentance always on the tip of His tongue?

The answer to this question lies in trying to put yourself into Jesus' sandals. Imagine walking around for at least three years knowing that you would stretch out your hands and have them nailed to a cross so that others would repent. Picture yourself tied to a pillar and being cruelly whipped until you pass out — to pay the penalty for other people's sins. Imagine hanging in excruciating agony in place of people who could care less whether they sin or not. Now imagine having a heart of passionate love for each person who has no interest in repentance. You're getting a glimpse of Jesus' perspective on the importance of repentance.

If you had to suffer all this, you'd change the subject too. You wouldn't want even one person to lose their soul if you had suffered that much so they could be saved. Be like Jesus and "proclaim this theme: 'Reform your lives!' " (Mt 4:17)

Prayer: Jesus, may Your death never be in vain for anyone. I will spend my life leading others to You and to repentance.

Promise: "He pardons all your iniquities, He heals all your ills." —Ps 103:3

Praise: Praise Jesus, obedient Son of the Father, and risen Lord!

How can people say that a three inch fetus isn't a baby?

Pray for an end to abortion!

http://resources.sainteds.com/showmedia.asp?media=../sermons/homily/2013-03-03-Homily%20Fr%20Gary.mp3&ExtraInfo=0&BaseDir=../sermons/homily

Third Sunday of Lent

Reading 1 Ex 3:1-8a, 13-15

Responsorial Psalm Ps 103: 1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 11

reading 2 1 Cor 10:1-6, 10-12

Gospel Lk 13:1-9

Third Sunday of Lent - Cycle C

Fruits of the Fig: Scott Hahn Reflects on the 3rd Sunday of Lent

The Divine Name and the Mystery of God

One Bread, One Body

THE VIEW FROM THE CROSS