TODAY’S GOSPEL READING
23 MARCH, 2025
Luke 13:1-9
𝑆𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑠
𝑤ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑃𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑠𝑎𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑠.
𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠 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.’”
THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD!
REFLECTION
The 3rd Sunday of Lent invites us to always practice patience and charity by giving second chances to those who offend us. In today’s Gospel, the charity and patience of the gardener reflect the same virtue found in Jesus Christ every time He came in search of fruit in our spiritual life. Second chance is hard to gain from us poor and weak people but is always available in our Heavenly Father. May we, through the Maternal assistance of our Sorrowful Mother, find within us, strength and courage to extend patience and charity every time they were asked from us.
𝗣𝗥𝗔𝗬𝗘𝗥
𝙅𝙚𝙨𝙪𝙨, 𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙘𝙮, 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙪𝙨 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙔𝙤𝙪. 𝘼𝙨 𝙬𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙪𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙮 𝙎𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙬𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙀𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧, 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙪𝙨 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙗𝙡𝙮 𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙣 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙘𝙮, 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙛𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙘𝙮 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙.
