THE WORD
Eph 4,7-16 / Lk 13,1-9
At that time some people who were present there told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. He said to them in reply, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinner than all other Galileans?
By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did! Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them – do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem?
By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did.” And He told them this parable, “There once a person who had a fig tree planted his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said to the gardener, “For three years I have come in search of fruit on this g tree but have found none. (So) cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’ He said to him in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not, you can cut it down.””
IN OTHER WORDS
“Give yourself a grace period”, this was the advice of our retreat master Fr. Arlo Yap, SVD, to those who were thinking of leaving the seminary formation. It was in 1998 in a retreat before we graduated from Philosophy. I was about to leave the seminary that time. But I listened to that advice. I gave myself a “grace period”. And I received the wonderful grace of priesthood later on.
“Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future…” pleaded the gardener in today’s gospel. The gardener begged for a “grace period”. I was not the only one who gave myself “grace period” in my seminary years. Many of my formators also gave me several chances, several “grace periods” for me to change for the better. I would not have become an SVD without those “grace periods”.
We too are called to be more patient with ourselves and with other people. We are called to give people another chance to change for the better, a “grace period”.
- Fr. Ruper Solis, SVD | Christ the King Seminary, QC
The Word in other words 2016
An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience.
