What Are You Doing With the Time You are Given? Jesus Gives A Lesson for Our Spiritual Journey!

What Are You Doing With the Time You are Given? Jesus Gives A Lesson for Our Spiritual Journey! The opening of the Homily talks about a gesture that is performed each time the Gospel is proclaimed at Mass. It is important to understand this for our own Spiritual Journey because the Word of God is given to us in love. Regardless of whether the Gospel proclaims a stern message, or a tender message, the Words are given out of love. Hear more in the first few minutes of the Homily. Today’s Gospel is very challenging. Pilot did an act of cruelty. Some Galileans were slaughtered. As is often the case, when there is an experience of evil or tragedy, one of the most painful things about it is it is hard to understand. Evil cannot always be explained. And the pain of not understanding the “why” is often times even worse. When we attempt to understand evil, we often try to assign blame. What did these people do that God allowed them to be punished in such a way? What did I do that God allows this to happen to me? People are willing to say God is punishing those people. No! That is not what is happening! The earthquake, the tidal wave, the hurricane, the disaster that is coming is not caused by God wanting to punish people. That is not what is happening! These events are not happening because God is not happy with them! Again, no! That is NOT what is happening! Do You Really Think God Is Punishing People Exposed to Evil? The Lord says in the Gospel to the people: Do you think these bad things happened because they were bad? Do you think these people were worse than everyone else? Do you think God singled these people out? The Lord looks at the people around him . . . do you really think these people were bigger sinners than you? Note what the Lord is saying in the Gospel! If you are looking at the situation, do not think about what God is saying to those people! Ask yourself what God is actually saying to you! Human sin has produced a world in which bad things can happen! That is a truth! Why is there pain in the world? Because we humans have brought it upon ourselves. Hear more in the Homily! Jesus Provides Us With A Lesson The real point the Lord is making is this: Look to see how fragile your life is. Look and see how brief your life is. That is the lesson. The lesson is not to see what bad happens to others. It is to see how fragile life is in this world. If you recognize how fragile and how brief our time is in this world, then this leads to a question. What are you doing with the time you are given? Listen more within the Homily! Listen to this Meditation Media. Hear more within: What Are You Doing With the Time You are Given? Jesus Gives A Lesson for Our Spiritual Journey --------------------------- Image: The Accursed Fig Tree: French Artist and Painter: James Tissot: 1886 In the Gospel we hear about the accursed fig tree. --------------------------- Gospel Reading: Luke: 13: 1-9 First Reading: EPH: 4: 7-16