Saturday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
October 26, 2019
Today, in Mercy, our Gospel takes on some difficult themes.
Jesus gives a parable which, at first, appears to say, “Get your act together fast, or God might zap you.” From Jesus’s words, we can assume that some public disasters have recently occurred. The gathered crowd are unnerved by these events.
Jesus uses that nervousness to talk about repentance. He tells the people that tragedy can make us wake up to the fact that life is fragile and fleeting. That awareness should make us want to use our time on earth well, to give glory to God.
The repentance Jesus encourages is not just a contrition, or turning from sin. It is an opening of the soul’s eyes to see our lives and circumstances as God sees them.
Is God going to zap us if we don’t have that kind of repentance? No.
With the parable of the fruitless fig tree, Jesus assures us that God is with us, giving us every grace and opportunity to bear spiritual fruit. God is patient and nurturing. But, in every human life, there is a limit to the time we have to respond.
Music: Calm the Soul – Poor Clares Galway
Lavish Mercy 
Yes, repentance must be coupled with a firm desire of amendment. I’m reminded of what Jesus said to the woman who was about to be stoned for adultery: “Your sins are forgiven. Go and sin no more.”
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