GOSPEL

If you do not convert, you will all perish in the same way.
Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke 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.’

Word of the Lord.

Postage paid.

The Lord expects to gather fruits of love in our marriage, fruits produced by the Holy Spirit. But instead, He finds “works of the flesh” in their place: “enmities, discord, jealousy, anger, ambitions, divisions, dissensions, rivalries.”

So we might try to point to our spouse as the responsible one for all that, which is quite difficult, because two do not get angry if one does not want to.

But let us suppose that my husband is largely to blame. Am I going to point him out so that he can be cut off and torn away from my side? Or am I going to offer to dig around him and give him the love he needs, asking for another chance for him or her?

Grounded in Married Life:

Lola: Who are you and what are you doing in our house with that sickle?
Death: I am Death, and I come to reap the life of your husband and take him away… Let me see the destination on the receipt? To hell. I’m taking him to hell.
Lola: No, please, don’t take him away!
Death: But yesterday you were calling me asking me to take him away once and for all.
Lola: Yeah, but I didn’t mean it seriously.
Death: Oh, well, I’m sorry. I’m already here, and I have to take someone. Keep in mind that I’ve already been paid the shipping costs.
Lola: Then take me instead of him!
Death: Now that’s a good one. The first time that’s happened to me. But do you love him that much? If you put yourself like this, I’m going to have to leave him a few more years. Don’t come back to me with complaints later.
Lola: Yes, please. I promise to give him all my affection and tenderness so as not to exasperate him and to make his path to love easier.
Death: With that, you would pay me more than the value of the bundle.
Lola: He’s not a bundle; he’s my husband. And don’t you ever speak of him like that again or I will kill you.
Death: Wow, that’s funny. Are you going to kill Death?
Lola: Jesus did it, so in His name I tell you: Go and don’t come back as long as I don’t stop loving my husband.
(And Death left in search of another less-loved husband)

Mother,

I love my husband with all my strength. Do not let them take him away until he is sanctified by the action of the Holy Spirit through me. Blessed be the Lord who allows me to be his Simon of Cyrene.