Homily for the Third Sunday of Lent

Homily delivered by Fr Dominic Robinson SJ

Scripture Readings: Exodus 3:1-15; I Corinthians 10:1-12; Luke 13:1-9

Time is a weird thing for me. Sometimes it goes far too fast, without time to get things done, sometimes with urgencies and stresses coming together, and yet there are also frustrations with things often standing still, obstacles to be overcome remaining in the way, time rolling on slowly without resolution. Sometimes you just need to carry on, committing yourself to discerning the good and the just path every step of the way, trusting that somehow the good and the just and the true will win over. A few years ago I was captivated by reading the autobiography of Terry Waite, like Nazanin ZaghariRatcliffe, held unjustly hostage for several years. In captivity you have lots of time to confront existential demons. “Sometimes the wheels of justice grind slowly”, he said, but “at the end of the day love and compassion win”. I like to hold that up each day as my hope for our world, be it regarding personal and ministerial challenges or more global issues such as the dreadful conflict we are in the midst of.

This Gospel is also about time. Give it a year, we are told. A year can be a long time in our lives. Many things can happen which make us change our lifestyle, and it’s my observation from those I chat with that the two years of the pandemic have been causing us to take stock and to change. Although it wasn’t sent by God we had and we have a golden opportunity to allow God to speak to us about how we are called to change. So we shouldn’t be all that surprised at the request made in this parable to give this poor forlorn fig tree another year. Give it some care, look after it, and just maybe it will start to grow and flourish. Give it some time. Time to step back can make a big difference.

A big difference, however, only if those in charge of this fig tree are prepared to put in some proper effort. Only if they start to recognize how it had got to this sorry state in the first place; only if they see its potential for change in this time; only if they see this year not just as keeping time or wasting time, marching on the spot, but as a precious time, a sacred time, when change can really happen.

Yes, it can be a luxury to take time out, but we are all called to give at least some precious time to God, to take a close look with him at where we are now in our lives, how we got there, and how we might be being called to change. And in the Season of Lent the Church gives us such a gift of precious, sacred time. Time to look at my life seriously: to look back to the past, to see the present more clearly, and to ask myself where I am being called. Sometimes sins I have committed are much easier to see. But where are the areas of my life where I have omitted to use my God-given gifts? How do I show God’s love to others, especially the weakest? How do I look after the created world given to us to steward, to care for? Am I always striving for what is good, just and true, or do I use people, even try to destroy them, twist the truth for my own ends, allow envy and pride to rule my life and relationships and so subvert what is good? What are the parts of my life which have lain untended? Can I spend just a little time to attend to them, as with the fig tree to dig around them, and to start tending the soil which through time and neglect has withered away? If I’m honest, there will be something there in my life I feel is not bearing fruit as it could.

And if I’m aware of it, we’re called to mark this sacred time by taking a precious opportunity to put the past behind us and to sow seeds for the future which will bear fruit. That is what it is to repent. And I start with myself. To cut away any hardness of heart, any closedness to his will, my tendency to block his grace through fear of failure and pride, and to allow God to reignite those parts of our life where gifts have remained unused, potential left untapped, where God wants fruit still to be borne through the gifts God has given me.

A year is a long time to take stock. But we have that opportunity in abundance. Thinking of our Ukrainian sisters and brothers, whom through our friends at the Cathedral and the Jesuit presence in Ukraine I know are suffering so much through the resurgence of evil intents, I’m especially aware right now of my freedom, of my capacity to combat this evil with the good, and that’s what we are all called to do. Let’s at least give these next few weeks to the Lord by turning to him with our hearts open to his forgiveness and to personal renewal so we can be beacons of what is truly good and just, and so ready to welcome him afresh into our lives this Easter.