Exodus 3:1-8.13-15
Psalm  102
1Corinthans  10:1-6.10-12
Luke  13:1-9
 

Reflections

Is there a different way of looking at misfortunes? Can these be an invitation to conversion of heart? The victims at the Twin Towers, of tsunamis, tornados, of the umpteenth accident at weekends, those who died in Auschwitz and Hiroshima... And all the victims of suicide bombs, massacres, accidents, catastrophes, violence, slavery, tumours, epidemics, AIDS… Who is to be blamed for all these evils? Is God part of it? What does He think? How does Jesus interpret such facts and events? These are some of the many questions that are asked regarding such evils. Jesus paid attention to and was informed about recent events (Gospel): he reflects on them, weighs them up according to his own values, not according common opinion. He makes a careful analysis, comments on them in a way that today would be labelled as politically incorrect, disconcerting and not running with the crowd.

 
They were trying to involve him in a public criticism of Pilate, for an act that was truly bloody and sacrilegious. The teaching that Jesus draws from that fact, as well as the 18 victims of the fall of the tower of Siloam, goes well beyond the interpretation of the majority, and reads in these events a call from God to change one’s behaviour, lest all die in the same manner. (v.3,5). There was a double temptation: to think, in the case of Pilate, that it was enough to rebel and replace the Roman Procurator; in the case of the victims of the tower, to think at once of a punishment as a result of sin or through external agencies (God included). It is the reaction that is easiest and most frequent: to point the finger at others, look for someone else who is guilty, think that evil is outside ourselves in inanimate objects, always link sickness and misfortune to sins committed or as a divine punishment. These are attitudes that are typical of a pagan mentality, noticed frequently by missionaries among non-Christian societies, but also among Christians too - a sign of an incomplete ‘conversion’!  (*)

 
Jesus liberates us from a mentality that, on the one hand, prevents us from perceiving the real causes of the ills that afflict us, leading to fatalism and passiveness. On the other hand, it leads us towards a false idea of a God who intervenes and punishes everywhere. Jesus goes to the root of the problems: he calls on us to be converted, to a change of heart, so that things can improve. Things will go better if people change from within; only a change of heart will bring an improvement in human, religious and socio-political structures. This is the good and fresh news, the Gospel that changes mentality, heart, life. The comments of Jesus about current events are not avoiding the issues, but give a much deeper vision. The Gospel does not pass by on the outskirts of history; it does not brush gently against it, but enters into the events, touches the hearts and consciences of people: that is where God builds his Kingdom of love and freedom. “The Kingdom of God does not run parallel to history, but challenges and interprets it” (Gustavo Gutiérrez). We touch here on the, ever mysterious, relationship between divine providence and history’s autonomy with its events that are not, in themselves, bearers of punishment or reward. A Christian, through a discernment enlightened by faith, is able to see in them a message, an invitation to conversion, an opportunity of mending one’s way, the meaning of human existence…

 
In the face of tragic and dreadful events, one is tempted to ask: where was God with his almighty power? There is a risk here of forgetting the wide-ranging liberty and human responsibility that God entrusts to men and women. Ermes Ronchi tries to express it as follows: “Where was God? No. Where was man, that day? If people do not change, are not changed into builders of alliances and of freedom, this world will fall into ruin, because founded on the sand of violence and injustice. If you are not converted, you will all die” (v. 3.5). That is why God shows mercy and patience. He gives us the gift of time that is a reality within which our salvation is worked. Indeed, He gives additional time, “one more year”, to produce fruit. In the owner who wants to cut the tree down (v. 7), we may get the false idea of a chastising, harsh and impatient God. On the contrary, he identifies with the farmer who prunes and cultivates his vineyard so that it may bear more fruit. He is the vine-dresser who waits with patience and is willing to look after and care for (dig around and manure: v. 8). Jesus goes beyond that: He is the new wheat grain that falls and dies into the furrows of humanity to bear much fruit (Jn 12:24).

 
The experience of the People of Israel, as Paul tells us (II Reading), should serve as an example and a warning for us (v.6,11): even though all the people were witnesses of and sharers in the innumerable works of God for them, many did not live up to God’s expectations and were lost (v.5). The warning is clear: do not relax in the illusion of presumed merits, but live humbly and consistently (v.12). Always with complete trust in God, who loves and liberates His people. That is how God revealed himself to Moses from the burning bush which was not consumed (1^st Reading): the God of life, the God of the ancestors (v.6), the God who sees the miserable state of his people, hears their cries, knows their sufferings and comes close in order to make them free (v.7-8). He is the One Who Is (v.14), God always present, everywhere, for everyone. Emmanuel: God with us. A presence that is creative and liberating. The evangelising commitment of every great missionary, as for Moses (v. 4-5), always lies in a powerful experience of God and a personal involvement in the sufferings of the people: the path followed by St. Francis Xavier, Peter Chanel, Daniel Comboni, Frances Xavier Cabrini, Teresa of Calcutta and many others.

 
The Pope’s Words

(*)  “In the face of certain disgraces, Jesus warns, it does no good to blame the victims. Rather, true wisdom allows one to question the precariousness of existence and to acquire an attitude of responsibility: to do penance and to improve our lives. This is wisdom; this is the most effective response to evil on every level: interpersonal, social and international. Christ invites us to respond to evil, first of all, with a serious examination of conscience and the commitment to purify our lives”.

Benedict XVI

Angelus Sunday 11 March 2007

 
In the steps of Missionaries

- 7/3: SS. Perpetua and Felicity, Carthaginian martyrs (+203), under the emperor Septimius Severus.

- 7/3: Bl. Joseph Olallo Valdés (1820-1889), Cuban religious of the Order for Hospitals of St. John of God (‘Fatebenefratelli’), always caring for the suffering and needy people.

- 8/3: St. John of God (1495-1550), Portuguese priest, Founder of the Order of the Brothers for Hospitals (‘Fatebenefratelli’), patron of hospitals, of the sick and ill people.

- 8/3: Woman International Day, instituted in 1910 and taken up by UNO in1975.

- 9/3: The Saints Forty Soldiers from Cappadocia, martyred at Sebaste (Armenia, +320).

- 9/3: S. Dominic Savio, a boy educated by St. Jon Bosco who died at the age of 14 (+1857).

- 10/3: Bl. Elias of Succour Nieves of Castillo, Mexican priest, of the Order of St. Augustine, martyred at Cortázar (Mexico, +1928), together with other people during the persecution.

- 12/3: St. Luigi Orione (1872-1940), the north-Italian priest who founded the Little Association of Divine Providence (Piccola Opera della Divina Provvidenza) and other Institutes for the assistance of those most in need.