Past issue

"We must free ourselves to be filled by God. Even God cannot fill what is full --- Mother Teresa

When I work with people who are joining the church, I tell them about the changes brought about by Vatican II. As I'm talking, it seems like just a few years ago when actually Vatican II was 40+ years ago. One of the themes of this week's readings is the importance of the time we have and what we do with it. Along with that is the theme of God's patience with us.

Though many Israelites were freed from bondage in Egypt, not all of them entered Canaan. Yahweh had heard their cries and made a way of deliverance for them; but once they were out, they forgot about what Yahweh called them to be. In Luke's story of the fig tree, we see God's patience in the gardener who asks for more time for the tree to bear fruit. We also see that if the time runs out, the tree will be cut down.

God continually calls us to freedom and to become all we can be. The danger is not that we say "No," but instead, "tomorrow" or "next week." Lent is a time to stop and think about our relationship with God. What is our "Egypt" that is keeping us from living in the freedom of God?

Are we so anxious we do not see the good around us? What do we have to let go of to produce good fruit? Lent will go by quickly. Is there a letter (or email) we have been meaning to write or a visit with someone we keep putting off? God is patient, but we need to be careful we don't say "tomorrow" too many times.