2409 Dixie Highway, Ft. Mitchell, KY, 41017

Browsing The Word Became Flesh - Fr. Aidoo's Blog

He found nothing but leaves…

THE WORD BECAME FLESH

Friday of Eighth week in Ordinary Time, 2021

Sir 44:1,9-13

Ps 149

John 11:11-26

He found nothing but leaves…

 

Dear friends in Christ, the Psalmist says that the one who ponders on the law of the Lord, will be like a tree planted by the riverbed, that yields its fruit in due season. (Ps 1:3) But could there be a season when a Christian should yield forth the right fruit?

 

Our Gospel of today (Mark 11:11-25) is very instructive. There are two scenes in the passage that are very important for our reflection. In the first, Jesus after his entry into Jerusalem by late evening, looked round at everything and then returned to Bethany with his disciples. The following day, he was hungry and seeing a fig tree in sight, he expected to have some fruits from it, but found nothing, though it was out of season. Jesus then said, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” The tree withered before they passed there again the next day. So Peter said to him, “Master look! The fig tree which you cursed has withered.” Jesus replied, “Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart…it will be done for him.” While the main lesson here is about faith, it also means that as followers of Jesus, there is no particular time to bear fruit. The Lord expects us to bear fruit in and out of season. With faith, that is possible. Whenever he comes, he expects us to be ready. If anyone is thinking, ‘I will change my way when I get old or to a certain age,’ who told him he will live that long.

 

In the second episode, Jesus came to the Temple and expected it to be a place of prayer but instead, it had become a place of trade. “And he entered the Temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple…and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he taught them and said, ‘Is it not written, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations?’ But you have made it a den of robbers.” Paul tells us that we are the temples of the Holy Spirit. We therefore, have no liberty to destroy the temple which is our body. Is your heart a home for all kinds of evil? Can God dwell in you? Can others in need of God, find a refuge in you? Are you a pointer to God and the life of grace, for those around you? 

 

God demands that you bear fruit at all times. He has endowed you with the grace to do this by the gift of his Spirit in you? Use the opportunities given to you by God to the best of your ability. Is your tree bearing the fruit Christ expects? Is your Temple a den of robbers?

 

Let us pray: Lord, I desire to bear fruit that lasts unto eternal life. Do not cast me away from your presence, lest I wither like the fig tree. Amen. 

+Remain blessed

Comments

There are no comments yet - be the first one to comment:

 

Subscribe

RSS Feed

Archive


Access all blogs

Subscribe to all of our blogs