BEAR FRUIT WITH GOD’S GRACE AND IN HIS TIME
Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15; 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12; Luke 13:1-9
Somerset Maugham, in his autobiography, writes: “I knew that I had no lyrical quality, a small vocabulary, little gift of metaphor; the original and striking simile never occurred to me; poetic flights... were beyond my powers. On the other hand, I had an acute power of observation, and it seemed to me that I could see a great many things that other people missed. I could put down in clear terms what I saw... I knew that I should never write as well as I could wish, but I thought, with pains, that I could arrive at writing as well as my natural defects allowed.”
The secret of happiness and contentment: becoming what life calls us to become (not becoming what we cannot!).
The fig tree – of the parable in the gospel – was only required to produce figs... and only figs. The owner gave it space and soil (at a premium in Israel), time (it took three years for a fig tree to bear fruit) and nutrients; the owner expected it to yield fruit or yield up the space it was occupying. But the fig tree remained barren.
God gave Israel choice and strategically positioned land, gifts, and grace to be a light to the nations. But Israel remained barren; a barrenness symbolised by the fig tree.
Paul (in the second reading) reminds the Corinthians of the grace the Israelites received: they “passed through the sea… were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea… ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink.” He reminds them also of the Israelites’ failure to respond to grace and urges them to be more responsive.
God has a project for each one of us; he gives us the gifts, aptitude, time and help we need to accomplish this project. We need to use all these to become what we are called to become; and to bear “fruit” before God calls time!
To what is God calling me? What are the gifts and aptitude he has given me? Am I on the way to realising his project/plan for me or am I like the fig tree of the gospel?
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