REFLECTIONS TODAY

It was a popular belief among the Jews that misfortunes in life are caused by transgressions of the Law, while fidelity to the Law results to blessings and prosperity. While this may be true in general, Jesus rejects the notion that all misfortunes result from sin. Bad things happen to good people, as bad people can also wallow in prosperity. If Jesus warns people of experiencing a horrible death on account of their unrepentance, most probably he means the spiritual punishment that persons face as judged by the Lord. It is wrong to presume that bad things happen to people because of karma. We know of people experiencing hardships, not because they are bad, but because that is what life has brought them. We should stop asking God, “Why Lord? What have I done wrong?” when bad things happen to us. The book of Job, which recounts the misfortunes of a just man, ends with a poetic assertion on the transcendence of God’s wisdom. Even if bad things happen to us while remaining faithful to God, we can trust that he allows it to happen because he means some good that we can derive from it. Do we trust God’s wisdom?

First Reading • Eph 4:7-16 
 

Brothers and sisters: Grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 

Therefore, it says: He ascended on high and took prisoners captive; he gave gifts to men. What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended into the lower regions of the earth? The one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. 

And he gave some as Apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers, to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building up the Body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood to the extent of the full stature of Christ, so that we may no longer be infants, tossed by waves and swept along by every wind of teaching arising from human trickery, from their cunning in the interests of deceitful scheming. Rather, living the truth in love, we should grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole Body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, with the proper functioning of each part, brings about the Body’s growth and builds itself up in love.

Gospel • Lk 13:1-9 
 

Some people told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. He said to them in reply, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did! Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!” 

And he told them this parable: “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said to the gardener, ‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. So cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’ He said to him in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.’”

Source: “366 Days with the Lord 2024,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.