Lk 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 fruits from now on. But if it doesn’t, you can cut it down.’”
REFLECTION
READ: Those eighteen persons in Siloah who were crushed when the tower fell, do you think they were guiltier than all the others in Jerusalem? I tell you: No.
REFLECT: A lot of things happen at random. Some good people are the innocent victims of accidents, whereas some bad people are the unworthy beneficiaries of good turns of fortune.
PRAY: Let us pray for a non-judgmental attitude concerning what (we think) people deserve or do not deserve.
ACT: Today let us try to console someone who is going through a painful experience.
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