Why should any of us be concerned when we always have tomorrow? When someone is healthy it is hard to fathom that in time they will lose strength and become unhealthy. This is especially true in the lives of those who are young because they should be allotted a lot of time before they have to worry about such a thing. It seems that as long as we are healthy that there is no urgency that can be found within our lives. Once that urgent moment arises, which comes as a warning, we are left with the decision to reform our lives or to remain stuck in the error of our ways that brought us to our lack of health. Continuing to follow after this familiar path will in time catch up with us and possibly even lead to our premature death. For those who are able to avoid medical complications we know that advanced age will catch up to them. None of us here are immortal in an earthly sense and thus if we want to or not we will in time be forced to face this reality.
Lent is a season that has been given to us by the Church to begin to prepare ourselves for this reality. Throughout the season we are reminded of the reality of the life giving waters of baptism and how, through sin, we have strayed from this reality of purity. In some way we have all fallen short at producing the amount of fruit that is expected from us. Lent will hopefully cause us to examine our lives and to point out these areas that are leading us towards death. With our examination taken place we are left the choice of conversion or contentment. Contentment leads us lost in our own sin without feeling a glimmer hope. In contentment we are lost in our constant lying to ourselves that we will find conversion when we are ready or maybe that are sins are not really to bad because they are normal human actions. Conversion, on the other hand, is to open ourselves up to true life. Through it we are able to look past ourselves and to see the love and mercy of God that is constantly being extended into our lives.
The parable that was given today in Luke's Gospel is a reminder of the mercy that God constantly extends into our lives. It is a reminder of the need to produce much fruit through our own conversion of heart instead of continuing to be unproductive through our own contentment. We notice inside of this Gospel that the owner of the fig tree came on three occasions and on each them he was unable to find any fruit. In the three stages of our own lives God is constantly present and desiring that we will return to Him. As children, adults, and in old age God comes and looks upon us with the hope that we will be able to turn away from hate and the desire to fuel our own passions and instead open ourselves up to the overflowing love of God. Despite our contentment of heart Christ takes the place of the gardener of this parable because he was willing to suffer and die upon the wood of the cross in order to give us another year to produce fruit. Even with this extension of mercy that has been bestowed upon us we must react as servants before we run out of time.
No matter what our status in life is we must ponder our commitment to producing fruit. Parents, grandparents, children, deacons, priests, bishops, bosses, employees, married or single, and yes even the pope must account for the fruit that has been produced within this life. Our former Holy Father, Benedict XVI, addressed this in his final words of his papacy. He stated: "I am no longer the pope but I am still in the Church. I'm just a pilgrim who is starting the last part of his pilgrimage on this earth." These words point towards the reality that our time is limited and therefore we have something that we must be preparing for. In these humbling words we see that despite being elected the successor of Saint Peter he is in need of Christ's mercy and is in need of God during these final moments of his life. Despite the role that he has played in the life of the Church he joins us upon the path of conversion that we find ourselves upon.
Upon this path towards conversion we are not left alone because God and Christ are continually desiring to enter into our lives to assist us with the grace that is necessary to accomplish this task. It was in the burning bush that Moses saw a "remarkable sight" that had drawn him in. In this experience he glanced upon the great glory of God in all of its brightness. He was called to come forth, leaving the work of his everyday life behind, in favor of giving service to God. This experience challenged him to conversion of heart where he would be led not by his own desires, but by the strength of God. We to have so much fear that is found in our lives where complete trust in the glory of God seems to be impossible. When we are stuck inside of the contentment of sin we should remember that God is present with all the grace that we will ever need to move ourselves towards conversion. May we not reject this grace due to our own pride, but instead be moved towards it through humility.
This Lenten season is filled with the attitude of humility. If we find ourselves rushing through this season without making time for sacrifice we are doing ourselves a great injustice. If we are growing tired under the strain of our sacrifice may remember the cross and the great rewards that are extended into our lives from it. These days that lie ahead can help us to accomplish our mission of not remaining content, but moving forward in life towards conversion. With conversion we will find new meaning to our life of faith especially as we encounter the gift of the Holy Eucharist. From the conversion of our heart we will begin to produce much fruit as we continue our pilgrimage upon this earth.
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