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Greetings, Everyone!
With all the current focus on stripping DEI policies, programs and mission statements from every aspect of American life, for some reason I find myself reminiscing about high school Latin classes. My memory is foggy, but I vaguely remember learning how to conjugate verbs and decline nouns. The verb "amare," for example, changes form according to whether it refers to the first, second or third person, singular or plural: amo (I love), amas (you love, singular), amat (he, she it loves), amamus (we love), amatis (you love, plural), amant (they love). Then there is the noun "Deus" or God. This also changes form according to its function in a sentence. Ironically, DEI refers to "gods" plural and also "of God/ belonging to God" and "to God." Whoever came up with the acronym "DEI" may well have had a background in Latin. God, after all, manifests in diverse forms, insists on equity and is all-inclusive. Moreover, the Divine Nature is plural (nominative plural, DEI), all things belong to God (genitive, DEI) and we call out to God (vocative, DEI). Though the acronym and noun are pronounced differently, my conclusion is that they seem to share a common etymology.
Amemus Deum! Deus Caritas Est!
Lenten Blessings,
Elizabeth
PS Please share this issue!
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SCRIPTURE REFLECTION
Link to Sunday Readings
And Jesus 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 figs but found none,
he said to the gardener,
‘For three years, I have come in search of figs on this tree
but have found none. So cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’
The gardener said to him in reply,
‘Sir, leave it be for this year as well. I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; perhaps it will bear fruit in the future. If not, you can cut it down.’”
Luke 13:1-9
Read at a literal level, the Parable of the Fig Tree seems to be about a fig tree that, to the frustration of the orchard owner, fails to bear fruit; the gardener, however, requests a reprieve --a stay of execution, if you will. With the gardener's intervention, it is possible that the tree will flourish in the future. Diving deeper, we can apply the parable's message to ourselves: we, like the fig tree, may be barren, yet, with the right care, there is a possibility that we might one day bear fruit. But let's go deeper still. In many of the parables, vineyard owners and orchard owners represent God and, as in the Parable of the Fig Tree, God tends to be disappointed, even broken-hearted.
There are echoes of the Vineyard Song from Isaiah 5:1-7 in
this parable. Isaiah's "Friend" does everything to nurture his vineyard, but all it yields are wild grapes. "What more was there to do for my vineyard that I had not done?" laments God (AKA, Isaiah's Friend). Perhaps Jesus has this passage in mind when he shares his parable about the fig tree. The orchard owner keeps looking for figs but is now running out of patience. Without fruit, the fig tree is merely taking up space and depleting the soil of its nutrients.
But what do "figs" represent, and what is the "right care" that the gardener proposes? The first part of Sunday's Gospel addresses two tragedies and Jesus' response. No, the murdered Galileans and the eighteen people killed by the falling tower at Siloam were no more sinful than anyone else; however, their deaths serve as a reminder of how unpredictable life can be and of the need to repent. But repent of what? Jesus isn't specific here, but if God is the orchard owner, then pleasing God seems to be the appropriate response-- and God delights in love, mercy, forgiveness, compassion and generosity. To be "fruitful" fig trees, then, we need to live by the core biblical values of love of God, self and neighbor. This is where we need the Divine Gardener, Jesus himself. Without submitting to his pruning, we will remain focused on our needs and wants to the exclusion of everyone else. Only by letting go of our craving for short term material gains, will we allow God to be at the center of our lives. Only by responding to the Divine Gardener's presence will we be capable of expanding our vision so that we can see as God sees, feel as God feels and love as God loves. Unless the soil in which we are planted is cultivated, our roots will lack strength and we will shrivel up, spiritually speaking. The Good News is that the Gardener, with pruning shears and hoe in hand, patiently awaits our "Yes!"
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