IT ALL DEPENDS ON THE WAY WE LIVE.

THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT. YEAR C.
March 11, 2007.
(First Reading: Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15)
(Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 10:1-6,10-12)
(Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8-11) (Gospel Reading: Luke 13:1-9)

IT ALL DEPENDS ON
THE WAY WE LIVE.

Our life as human beings is realized in our relations with our fellow human beings. In our life we may find the following types of relations:

1. Relations which allow all human beings to live in accordance with our human dignity. That is, relations in which every person is moved by the desire to see that all human beings live in justice, mutual respect and peace with one another; to see that all human beings can meet all their needs to the highest level required by their human dignity. This is the life of a world in which every human being places the wellbeing of others before his, a world in which there is no harm nor oppression inflicted by a human being upon another human being(1).

2. Relations in which a person, or a group of people are moved by the desire to possess wealth while dispossessing other human beings and causing oppression and suffering upon the ones left in deprivation. This is the life of a world in which a few live in abundance while vast majorities die of hunger, disease or repression. This is the world in which the value of human dignity has been reduced to nothing.

3. Relations in which people isolate themselves from one another as if the others did not exist, where people "mind their own business", where people do not care about the suffering of others or do not denounce the injustices and maltreatment the oppressors inflict upon their fellow human beings.

We see that in the first type of relations human beings live in unity, in fullness of life; whereas in the last two types of relations, human beings are divided in:
- those who inflict evil and death upon their fellow human beings; and
- those who are the victims of suffering and death.

Following the words of the Lord Jesus in his gospel, we may ask: Are, then, the victims of evil and death the ones who die? By no means! The ones who inflict sufferings and death upon their fellow human beings are the ones who die. They die because of the evil they do, because of their separation from their fellow human beings and because of their separation from God(2).

The Lord Jesus goes on to say that the evildoers will perish if they "do not repent".
Repentance, therefore, is the means by which the evildoers can regain their life, that is, repentance is the return to a life of mutual respect, justice, equality, peace, harmony among all human beings.

Referring to the parable of the gospel, we can say that repentance is the cultivation that allows the fig tree to bear fruit; and the fig tree is every human being who must bear the fruit of unity, justice and peace. The gardener is the person of good will(3) who "shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it [so that] it may bear fruit in the future". If not it will be cut down.

This season of lent, is a propitious time for Christians and men of good will to begin living in a way that moves our world from oppression to mutual respect, from war to peace, from injustice to justice, from dispossession to sharing, from division to unity, from death to life.
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Footnotes.
(1) A world order of this nature is what several socio-economic and philosophical doctrines throughout history have tried to achieve. In Christ it will find its full realization.
(2) The death of the victim of oppression is a death in the flesh but not of the spirit. Whereas the death of the oppressor is the death of the spirit, even though he may continue his earthly existence in the flesh.
(3) That is, Jesus Himself at work through his fellow human beings. The Psalm 103 says: "He [The Lord] heals all your ills. He redeems your life from destruction. The Lord secures justice and the rights of all the oppressed" (Psalm 103:3-6).