3rd Sunday of Lent, Repent & Bear Fruit

In today’s Gospel, Jesus says, “But, I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!” It’s a striking warning, followed by a story that says he same again, only in different words. “For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. So cut it down.”

Repent or perish. Bear fruit or be cut down. These words of warning might appear to be harsh. But they are words of mercy precisely because they are a warning.

If a parent warns their child not to run in the street, the parent is not condemning the child to be hit by a car. On the contrary, parents try to keep them safe. The warning itself is an act of love and concern.

Here, in the case of souls, Jesus’s words are an act of mercy. Repent, he urges, while you still can. Bear fruit before your life becomes a barren wasteland. Change, because I love you; it’s not too late. We still have life within us, and God loves us enough to exhort us to exercise our freedom in favor of what is true, and good, and beautiful.

Jesus in the Gospel most especially is asking us to repent of our sins. To turn away from them, Catholics means to Confess them in Confession, where we receive God’s mercy.

He gives a strong warning, saying that those who do not repent, will perish. What does perish mean? It means to die in the state of mortal sin and to go to hell forever.

It is very loving to warn us of dangers to our soul. This is why priests act as shepherds to warn the sheep of the danger of not praying, not practicing one’s faith, not confessing one’s sins, by failing to love one’s neighbor.

In the past I told you the definition of mercy. Mercy is to open one’s heart to relieve the misery of another by doing an act of charity. When we practice mercy, we are producing fruit.

On the Cross, the Heart of Jesus was opened when it was pierced with a sword, causing blood and water to gush forth. Jesus saw the misery of our souls and by an act of forgiveness, relieved that misery.

When we look at a Divine Mercy picture, we see rays of red and white coming forth from the Heart of Jesus to relieve the misery of our sins. St. Faustina’s prayer reminds us of the cost of mercy. “O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fountain of Mercy for us, I trust in You!” 

All we have to do-- to be merciful-- is to look for the misery of others and then do our best relieve that misery with an act of love.

The corporal works of mercy are feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, burying the dead, visiting the sick and imprisoned, clothing those who are naked, sheltering the homeless. The spiritual works of mercy are: counseling the doubtful, instructing the ignorant, bearing wrongs patiently, praying for the living and the dead, admonishing the sinner, forgive all offenses, comfort the sorrowful.

If we look for the misery of another person, and relieve that misery with an act of love we are practicing mercy.

For example, if a child needs help with their homework, the child is in misery and to relieve that misery by instructing the child, is an act of mercy.

Another example a young person has the misery of being afraid, and when tell them, “Have courage, don’t be afraid.” we are relieving their misery by an act of mercy.

If someone is making negative comments about someone else, that gossipers in misery, we can admonish them by saying something positive about the person, they are speaking negatively about.

If someone’s pet dies, and they are sorrowing, we can comfort them, by saying, Jesus loves you.

At a basketball game, I recently saw a teenage boy ask for money from his father, to purchase a bottle of water and the boy came back, not only with a bottle of water for himself, but one to his father, who was thirsty. The father saw the misery of his son who was thirsty and he relieved that misery by giving him money to buy water. And the boy saw the misery of his father and brought him water to drink.

If we are accused of something we didn’t do, and we can’t prove that it wasn’t us, we can offer up the misunderstanding and bear it patiently.

When someone is in the hospital, or nursing home, or if they are home bound, they are in misery because they feel alone, but if someone visits them, they are doing an act of mercy by talking to them and helping them to feel loved.

When parents go to Confession and bring their children with them, they are relieving the misery of the child’s soul, by allowing Jesus to forgive them.

When parents bring their children to Mass, they are seeing the misery of a child who needs to be with Jesus and they are relieving that misery by helping the child to pray to Jesus in the Sacred Host.

Parents when you bring your children to Adoration, you are being merciful to them by helping them to learn to pray.

Do you see how many different ways we can practice mercy? All we have to do is be attentive to the misery of others and relieve that misery with an act of love, that is mercy.

As we go through Lent, try to look for misery of others and to relieve that misery, by an act of love, and it is then we will see Jesus in disguise of those whom we help.

Jesus indicates what we will be judged on at the end of our life, which is mercy. As Our Lord said, “When I was hungry, you gave me food. When I was thirsty, you gave me drink, when I was ill and in prison, you visited to me. What you did to the least of my brothers and sisters, you do unto me.”

In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus explains what happens to those who fail to give mercy. Basically, we could become that fig tree, that produced no fruit, and will be cut down, because we failed to love our neighbor. Just as Our Lord gave the tree three years to produce fruit or it will be cut down, so Jesus first calls us to repentance, then He asks that we produce fruit by being merciful to others.

But, if we fail to repent, if we fail to be merciful to others and not truly love them, we could be cut off from eternal life at the end of our time on earth.

As Our Lord said, “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: for when I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was ill and in prison and you did not visit me.”

But if we do acts of mercy, which are really acts of love, at the end of our live, we will hear Jesus say to us, “Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” for “what you did to the least of my brothers and sisters, you did unto Me...”