Gospel: March 23, 2025
March 23, 2025 (Sunday)
3rd Sunday of Lent
Psalter: Week 3 / (Violet)
First Scrutiny of the Elect
Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 11
The Lord is kind and merciful.
1st Reading: Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15
2nd Reading: 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12
Gospel: Luke 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 18 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 fruit from now on. But if it doesn’t, you can cut it down.’”
Lectio Divina:
“We are called to bear fruit.”
Read: Moses encounters God on Mount Horeb and is sent to rescue God’s people from slavery. Christ is the spiritual rock from which the Israelites drank and from which we drink on our pilgrimage through life. We are sustained by God and called to bear fruit, like the fig tree. Jesus also points to God’s patience, as he gives us more time to bear the fruit of good deeds.
Reflect: Both the first and second readings relate to the same place, as the passage to which Saint Paul is referring, about Moses drawing water from the rock, also occurred on Mount Horeb (Ex 17:6). Thus, from this mountain Moses is sent to save the people from slavery, and on the “Mountain of God” they are saved from dying of thirst. Saint Paul describes Christ as a spiritual rock “following” his people. So, symbolically, Christ is Mount Horeb. He is the rock, the solid point in shifting sands, the God who saves, nourishes and gives life. He patiently follows us through life, because he wants to give us this salvation, even if we have ignored him in the past.
Pray: Meditate upon Christ as your rock who follows you through life, giving you living water.
Act: Think how you can do more good works as a response to God’s loving care.
