THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT
First Reading • Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15
Psalm • Psalm 103: 1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 11.
Second Reading • 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12
Gospel • Luke 13:1-9
David was struggling. For years, he made mistakes—pushing away friends, neglecting his family, and ignoring his faith. He felt like a failure, convinced he could never change.
One day, his old mentor, Mr. Thomas, invited him for coffee. David sighed, “I’ve wasted so many years. What’s the point of trying now?”
Mr. Thomas smiled and pointed to a dying plant by the window. “I almost threw this out last year, but I gave it water, sunlight, and care. Look at it now.”
David noticed fresh green leaves sprouting.
“God doesn’t give up on us,” Mr. Thomas said. “He gives us time to grow—just like that fig tree in the Gospel.” David left with hope. Maybe, it wasn’t too late to change.
This story reminds us that God’s patience allows us time to grow and bear good fruit.
We are just about at the half-way point of Lent. So, it is a good time for us to ask ourselves, “What fruit has this season of grace produced in us?”
This is an important question. The reason we are taking up sacrifices, praying more, and spending more time serving others is so that we can grow in our faith and in our relationship with God.
It is not to show how strong we already might be, but to help us to grow even stronger. So, if we have been undertaking all the disciplines of Lent – that is, prayer, fasting, and almsgiving – we should be seeing some results.
What might some of those fruits be?
One surprising one might be that we are discovering just how weak and sinful we are. It is often when we try to break a habit that we find out just how strong a grip it has on us.
It is a good thing to be aware of our sinfulness. It makes us more humble.
It also makes us more compassionate and forgiving to others. So, if the only thing we’ve learned about ourselves this Lent is that we are sinners, we have learned one of the great truths of the spiritual life. All of us are sinners.
All of us have fallen. But, most importantly, God offers His forgiveness to each one of us. If we get up each time we fall and accept God’s mercy, we will grow.
Another fruit we might be experiencing during this Lent is greater self-control. When we do without things we like, it strengthens our will-power.
There is a real freedom that comes from being able to choose what is good for us and reject what is bad for us.
We should never become so confident in ourselves that we start to let our guard down. Saint Paul’s warning to us in today’s second reading should always be on our mind, “So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall”.
Yet another beautiful fruit is a greater sense of God’s presence in our lives. This is closely tied to the Holy Spirit’s gift of piety. If we have been praying regularly over these past weeks, we will notice that it is changing our outlook.
Prayer is like an antenna that helps us tune into the presence of God that is all around us showing itself in every moment of our day.
If we have spent this Lent focused on almsgiving – that is, on giving of our time and money to those who are less fortunate – one of the fruits we may be bearing is a greater awareness of the needs of others.
In that case, we are experiencing the fruits of love and compassion. When we are more loving and compassionate, our attention moves away from ourselves to others.
That is when we become most like Jesus who went so far as to give His life out of love for us.
The greatest fruit we could bear this Lenten season is that of love. At the heart of all our Lenten observances is love—the love of Christ who sacrificed for us and the love we are called to share.
Through prayer, fasting, and acts of kindness, we open our hearts to God’s grace, allowing His love to transform us. True love is selfless, compassionate, and enduring, leading us closer to the joy of Easter and the hope of resurrection.
It could be that many of us have not taken up any Lenten practice yet, or may have given up already. It is not too late to start or start again.
The fact is that Jesus wants all of us to bear fruit. Like the gardener in Jesus’ parable, He is not ready to give up on us. Whether it seems that we have been bearing a lot of fruit or none at all, God will continue to work on us.
We just have to open ourselves up to Him in prayer, just as a tree turns its branches up to the sun. And when we least expect it, we might notice that we are more patient than we used to be.
Or we might be feeling more drawn to prayer. That is the effect of God’s work on us. And that is what this Lent is all about – the challenge to grow into the men and women God created us to be.
