Gospel: Luke 13:1-9 -
One day, some people told Jesus what had occurred in the temple: Pilate had had Galileans killed, and their blood mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. Jesus asked them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered this? No, I tell you. But unless you change your ways, you will all perish, as they did.

And those eighteen persons in Siloah, who were crushed when the tower fell, do you think they were more guilty than all the others in Jerusalem? I tell you: no. But unless you change your ways, you will all perish, as they did.”
And Jesus continued, “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it, but found none. Then he said to the gardener, ‘Look here, for three years now I have been looking for figs on this tree, and I have found none. Cut it down, why should it continue to deplete the soil?’ The gardener replied, ‘Leave it one more year, so that I may dig around it and add some fertilizer; perhaps it will bear fruit from now on. But if it doesn’t, you can cut it down.’”

Lectio Divina
READ: God promised Moses that he would free his people from slavery. Through Christ, God has set his people free from sin. But as Jesus warns, to receive this gift we must change our ways.
REFLECT: When a disaster strikes—a typhoon, an earth- quake—there is a temptation to ask, “What did they do to deserve this?” Was it their immorality? Their lack of faith? When disaster strikes close to home, we ask, “How could God allow this?” Someone— God or the victims must somehow be to “blame.” But God—whose name is “I AM”- hears the cries of the victims. And God is present in those who respond with compassion and deliverance.
PRAY: Lord, let me listen with your ears to the cries of the oppressed.
ACT: Respond with effective solidarity to someone or some group that is suffering harm or injustice.

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