The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to assess the tensions in our life that threaten to draw us away from the nourishment of communion with God and people that is necessary for our growth.
The Reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans contrasts The Flesh and the Spirit.
* [8:1–13] After his warning in Rom 7 against the wrong route to fulfillment of the objective of holiness expressed in Rom 6:22, Paul points his addressees to the correct way. Through the redemptive work of Christ, Christians have been liberated from the terrible forces of sin and death. Holiness was impossible so long as the flesh (or our “old self”), that is, self-interested hostility toward God (Rom 8:7), frustrated the divine objectives expressed in the law. What is worse, sin used the law to break forth into all manner of lawlessness (Rom 8:8). All this is now changed. At the cross God broke the power of sin and pronounced sentence on it (Rom 8:3). Christians still retain the flesh, but it is alien to their new being, which is life in the spirit, namely the new self, governed by the holy Spirit. Under the direction of the holy Spirit Christians are able to fulfill the divine will that formerly found expression in the law (Rom 8:4). The same Spirit who enlivens Christians for holiness will also resurrect their bodies at the last day (Rom 8:11). Christian life is therefore the experience of a constant challenge to put to death the evil deeds of the body through life of the spirit (Rom 8:13). (Romans, CHAPTER 8 | USCCB, n.d.)
Psalm 24 accompanied a ceremony of the entry of God into the Temple.
* [Psalm 24] The Psalm apparently accompanied a ceremony of the entry of God (invisibly enthroned upon the ark), followed by the people, into the Temple. The Temple commemorated the creation of the world (Ps 24:1–2). The people had to affirm their fidelity before being admitted into the sanctuary (Ps 24:3–6; cf. Ps 15). A choir identifies the approaching God and invites the very Temple gates to bow down in obeisance (Ps 24:7–10). (Psalms, PSALM 24 | USCCB, n.d.)
The Gospel of Luke presents A Call to Repentance using The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree.
* [13:1] The slaughter of the Galileans by Pilate is unknown outside Luke; but from what is known about Pilate from the Jewish historian Josephus, such a slaughter would be in keeping with the character of Pilate. Josephus reports that Pilate had disrupted a religious gathering of the Samaritans on Mount Gerizim with a slaughter of the participants (Antiquities 18:86–87), and that on another occasion Pilate had killed many Jews who had opposed him when he appropriated money from the temple treasury to build an aqueduct in Jerusalem (Jewish War 2:175–77; Antiquities 18:60–62).
* [13:4] Like the incident mentioned in Lk 13:1 nothing of this accident in Jerusalem is known outside Luke and the New Testament.
* [13:6–9] Following on the call to repentance in Lk 13:1–5, the parable of the barren fig tree presents a story about the continuing patience of God with those who have not yet given evidence of their repentance (see Lk 3:8). The parable may also be alluding to the delay of the end time, when punishment will be meted out, and the importance of preparing for the end of the age because the delay will not be permanent (Lk 13:8–9). (Luke, CHAPTER 13|USCCB, n.d.)
Rev. Anish Kochanichottil, SJ, comments that the story of the fig tree and the gardener is, at its heart, a story of hope and patience.
The gardener sees beyond my present barrenness and believes in what I can still become. He pleads for another chance, trusting that with care, pruning, and time, there will be new growth. Often, those painful moments of pruning, correction, struggle, or loss are the gardener’s way of helping me grow stronger and more fruitful.
It is said that nothing that only takes and never gives can truly live. The barren fig tree drew life from the soil but gave nothing in return. In life, too, we are called not only to receive but to give, to put back more than we take. In the end, we are all debtors to life. We have received love, faith, and freedom through the sacrifices of others. Our task is to pass them on, bearing fruit that nourishes others and leaves the world a little better than we found it. (Kochanichottil, n.d.)
Don Schwager quotes “The Lord's three visits through the Patriarchs, Prophets, and the Gospel,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"The Lord also has something very fitting to say about a fruitless tree, 'Look, it is now three years that I have been coming to it. Finding no fruit on it, I will cut it down, to stop it blocking up my field.' The gardener intercedes... This tree is the human race. The Lord visited this tree in the time of the patriarchs, as if for the first year. He visited it in the time of the law and the prophets, as if for the second year. Here we are now; with the gospel the third year has dawned. Now it is as though it should have been cut down, but the merciful one intercedes with the merciful one. He wanted to show how merciful he was, and so he stood up to himself with a plea for mercy. 'Let us leave it,' he says, 'this year too. Let us dig a ditch around it.' Manure is a sign of humility. 'Let us apply a load of manure; perhaps it may bear fruit.' Since it does bear fruit in one part, and in another part does not bear fruit, its Lord will come and divide it. What does that mean, 'divide it'? There are good people and bad people now in one company, as though constituting one body." (excerpt from Sermon 254.3) (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 13:1-9 asks “Who would have thought that animal waste could be so important?” But that’s exactly why Jesus included it in his parable of the fig tree. He was saying that God often uses the messy “fertilizer” in our lives to help us grow.
You may look at your life as it is right now and wonder whether your potential will ever emerge. You may look at your current circumstance and wonder how God could possibly be working in it. But don’t just look at whatever mess you might be in; look at the One who is actively at work to transform you through it. And follow his lead. When you practice patience in suffering, when you speak a word of peace rather than division, you are telling him that you are willing to trust him. Never underestimate what the Master Gardener can do when you let him go to work!
“Jesus, help me to bear fruit for your kingdom!” (Meditation on Luke 13:1-9, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler comments that, in Romans, Paul contrasts the flesh with the spirit and our concupiscence that takes us from what God wants. The Spirit wants, to fill us with the life of God and live it in our everyday life and be aware of the things they may take us away even seemingly small things of health, judgement of others and neglecting their dignity. Jesus looks at accidents and disasters to take it as a warning and convert as in funerals or accidents that we should take note. The fruit tree, cut down after three years, seems too short, but Friar Jude has learned that the young tree is actually left to build in the fifth, sixth or seventh year to bear fruit after the perfect number in time. Friar Jude notes the tree is given another year, even after the perfect amount of time, and is a gracious extension. Friar Jude notes there is a time of judgement and we consider that today is the day we might meet the Lord.
Fr. Mike Schmitz gives us context for the beginning of 2 Maccabees and recounts the story of Nehemiah’s discovery of the sacred fire. He also offers a reflection for those struggling with grief and death, which serves as a reminder to all about the blessing of our lives and the lives of those we love. Today’s readings are 2 Maccabees 1, Sirach 40-41, and Proverbs 24:1-7.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces social justice movement lawyer Alison McCrary who offers ten practices to create a contemplative foundation that supports the work for justice.
As we work for this [more just] future as people on a spiritual journey, engaging in action for liberation in accordance with our Christian tradition, we are called to cultivate a contemplative life. “Contemplative activism” can be embodied through these ten practices:
Ground ourselves in spiritual practices. Know our practices. Cultivate an inner life.
Decolonize our lives and the systems that perpetuate colonized behaviors and mentalities.
Listen deeply to others, especially those on the margins of the margins.
Have a willingness to challenge power and build collective power.
Follow the leadership of those closest to the pain or the problem.
Build genuine relationships with those you are working with and advocating for.
Cultivate community and care.
Maintain an ever-evolving and deepening political analysis, values, and language.
Take risks.
Hold onto radical hope.
Each of the above practices also calls us to cultivate a practice of presence: to the divine, within our bodies, with our feelings (grief, joy, despair, hope), to and with another person, in the face of a person or institution causing harm, with nature, and to what is wanting to be revealed and created….
Being present, living into the ten practices of a contemplative activist, and staying grounded in our contemplative practices can awaken us to a new awareness of the divine dwelling within and among us as we work for good and move Martin Luther King Jr.’s “arc of justice” toward liberation. (Rohr, n.d.)
We ponder the “fertilizer” in our life that is the sign that God is offering the support we need, perhaps in contemplative activism, to enrich the harvest of love, faith, and hope in our environment.
References
Kochanichottil, A. (n.d.). Daily Reflection. Creighton Online Ministries: Home. Retrieved October 25, 2025, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-october-25-2025
Luke, CHAPTER 13|USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings. Retrieved October 25, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/13?1
Meditation on Luke 13:1-9. (n.d.). Word Among Us. Retrieved October 25, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2025/10/25/1414199/
Psalms, PSALM 24 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved October 25, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/24?1
Rohr, R. (n.d.). Daily Meditations — Center for Action and Contemplation. CAC.org. Retrieved October 25, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/christianity-a-living-tradition-weekly-summary/
Romans, CHAPTER 8 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved October 25, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/romans/8?1
Schwager, D. (n.d.). Unless You Repent - You Will Perish. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved October 25, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/
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