Gospel for March 20 2022 – Luke 13:1-9
Gospel Reflections for March 20 2022
…Is it God’s will?
Was the Russian invasion of Ukraine God’s will? How about a hurricane, tornado, or car accident? Why do these things happen? These are all serious events and you might wonder how God is involved.
God does not want any of those events! Although maybe hard to see at first, they are all unfortunately the result of our own actions.
God never asked us to build airplanes or cars, or build homes where hurricanes, tornadoes or earthquakes have occurred naturally for centuries. He never wants violence on anyone either. Cars, planes, and the weather simply follow the natural laws of physics God made. God also gave us free will and if we choose to build houses in the wrong place or operate planes and cars badly or invade another country, tragic things will happen.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus recalls several recent news items. He heard that the cruel Roman Prefect, Pontius Pilate, had executed people, and that 18 people died in a tragic tower collapse. People assumed they deserved it and that God had punished them.
Jesus affirms that God never sends punishments. These tragedies are never His will! This Gospel finally ends the superstitious idea that bad events are ever God’s plan. God only wills your happiness!
Jesus then references a fig tree that has bad fruit and that a gardener wants to cut down.
It certainly does make sense to remove it, but Jesus asks for patience, and to give the tree more time to change. So is His amazing patience with you to change your life.
People certainly make bad choices, such as building in the wrong place, not maintaining airplanes or driving safely, or killing people as Pilate did, and Russians have done in Ukraine. You would think that God would have every right to cut them all down too. This Gospel says different. God wants to offer the time to change.
Lent is precisely the time to take another look at yourself too and the choices you make.
Have you ever sped up to beat a red light? Don’t do that anymore! You can decide to drive safely. Can you prepare your home for an earthquake? Why not now? Can you eat healthier or exercise more? Why not now? There is much you can do now to change your own world by your decisions that you make today.
That is definitely God’s will!
God Bless!
Fr. Dave
Love your precious words!!!Our loving God is Love and we live in His love and must take charge and make the world beautiful, moral, and safe!! We must make a difference for good through our actions, prayers and love!!!Dick and I love our precious God, our loving Jesus, our beautiful Blessed Mother, our amazingly beautiful Faith and we will share our love beautifully with our world!!! So glad our loving God gave us the gift of you for you are our Jesus in this world!!! Dick and I are praying for the Bishops and all the world for the Cosecration of Ukraine and Russia to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary and Putin to be defeated or converted!!!! Loved seeing you at your talk at Saint Jude with the Jewish Rabbi!!! After hearing you both soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo happy Dick and I were born in a Catholic family who instilled beautiful faith in us!!!Loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee being Catholic!!!! Loveee you!!! Loveeee, franca and Dick
Thank you!
Dear Father Dave,
I enjoy Franca’s comments almost as much as I enjoy yours! Once again, thank you for your insightful reflection.
Prayers for our world, especially for the Ukrainian people but also the Russian people because it appears that a great many disagree with the invasion and their President Putin.
My stepfather was Russian, and his family immigrated to America, I think … sometime in the late forties. They were good people.
Yes, I truly believe that human beings are responsible for wars and all kinds of devastating hardships. We are most definitely the masters of our ships.
But from the beginning of time, we’ve been witness to God’s parenting. Take, for example, the first sin of Adam and Eve and God’s response to them. Then there was Noah and the Ark. Perhaps someday, you could walk us through these events and demonstrate how they reflect not only on civilization but also give us a mirror into God’s soul … if that is even possible.
God bless. Stay well.
Kathleen
God bless you.
Thanks for your comments. Yes, all those Old Testament stories highlight over and over again our personal responsibility for the consequences of our bad choices. Judaism was the first religion in the ancient world to bring forward this idea. That truth will set you free. (John 8:34)
🇺🇦 Yes, we have the choice to make a difference for good through our prayers and actions. It would be a really beautiful thing if everyone could send their Guardian Angel to a church in Ukraine to pray. We can send our Guardian Angel to a Mass anywhere in the world on any given day. Padre Pio would often send his Angel with prayers for others.
A great idea! Thanks for sharing it.