23 March. Lent 3.    Repentance and a fig tree.   Sunday Lent 3C.”If it bears fruit next year well and good, but if not, you can cut it down.” Fr Oliver reminded the congregation, “We’re nearing the end of summer and autumn and we have seen how parts of Africa have had major climatic disasters  floods in parts and drought in others.  People have been displaced and villages destroyed. In other parts drought still exists that will lead to famine in the months to come. Wars and conflicts contribute, and the natural disasters have highlighted too how nature has been harmed by our human activity. To what extent have we been responsible for the devastation in God’s great garden. We have been a continent of subsistence farmers and market gardeners and can reflect on God as a merciful gardener, caring for his fruit trees.  But let us not test his patience too much.”  

Reflect, share and act. Scripture: Let me dig about the fig tree and put on manure. If it bears fruit next year well and good, but if not, you can cut it down. Luke 13:1-9. Pope Francis: God’s patience does not simply have to do with enduring all things. We encounter problems when we think that relationships or people ought to be perfect, or when we put ourselves at the centre and expect things to turn out our way.  AL 91-92. JUBILEE.   There is not much place for patience in this age of the Internet, as space and time yield to an ever- present “now”. If we were still able to contemplate creation with a sense of awe, we might better understand the importance of patience. We could appreciate the changes of the seasons and their harvests, observe the life of animals and their cycles of growth, and enjoy the clarity of vision of Saint Francis. A renewed appreciation of the value of patience could only prove beneficial for ourselves and for others. Saint Paul speaks of patience in the context of our need for perseverance and confident trust in God’s promises. Yet, before all else, he testifies to God’s own patience, as “the God of all patience and encouragement” ( Rom 15:5). Patience, one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, sustains our hope and strengthens it as a virtue and a way of life. May we learn to pray frequently for the grace of patience, which is both the daughter of hope and at the same time its firm foundation.  SNC 4.   Choose an act of love and sacrifice from the list, also published at www.marfam.org.za