Lent III

Italians love fig trees. My immigrant grandfather planted one shortly after arriving from Cefalu Sicily in 1908. My first generation father planted one in our yard as well. They can be quite fickle and need special attention to grow and bear fruit. They like hot humid weather and have a dislike for cold and snow which are not uncommon in Maryland where our family settled. To my knowledge this near mystical attachment to the fig tree has not been inherited by subsequent generations and both my grandfather's and father's trees are long since dead. I confess I'm not over fond of the fruit which has a mealy texture.

In today's Gospel (Luke 13:1-9), Jesus uses a parable of an unproductive fig tree to indicate our need to be vigilant in cultivating our spiritual lives and producing the fruits of charity, compassion and fidelity to the Gospel. Lent is a perfect time to do the work of pruning unproductive or downright destructive habits which creep into our lives and take root growing abundantly. It's not enough to give up chocolate or wine for forty days, we have to do the much harder work of elimination that which hinders our personal growth and relationships with others. Only by such pruning and nurturing care will we produce fruits which enrich our lives and the lives of those we touch. It's an old and not always popular message, but it's logic is hard to dispute. We don't have to do this work in isolation. In aiding one another we produce the sweetest fruits of friendship, compassion and love/care of self and others.

I sometimes regret not caring for my father's fig tree now that he is gone. I guess I could always plant one of my own.....


Cefalu Sicily (click for larger view)