How is Your Fruit Production?

03-23-2025Pastor's LetterVery Rev. Richard C. Wilson, VF, Pastor

Dear Friends in Christ,

Jesus tells his followers a parable that concerns us: “The owner of the vineyard approaches the fig tree to pick its fruit and finds none.” This Lent, God demands fruit from us: Are we happy that Jesus calls us to account? Are we surprised? Are we afraid when we see our life as a tree full of leaves but without fruit? The episode begins with anxiety but has a happy ending. God will make one last effort to recover his tree: he will turn the earth, apply fertilizer, and wait another year because he is patient with what he sowed with such enthusiasm. Indeed, we should not reach the end of our lives empty-handed. Lent is an invitation to conversion.

To convert is not to remain barren, dry, and dead. God created you for joy. Do not allow the drudgery of work or the noise of our secular world to rob you of your joy. May no adversity erase the smile from your face. Don’t allow the poison of hatred to run through your veins; always find a way to forgive.

Cardinal Newman said that “to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.” This is not a sign of instability but of openness to the work of the Holy Spirit. We won’t achieve holiness in an instant; it is a lifelong process.

Conversion means allowing the Gospel to enter our very way of being so that, little by little, it can fill our entire existence. Lent is a time to live as Christ taught us. St. Paul said that faith without works is a dead faith. May we not fear doing what he asks of us. Instead, we could ask ourselves: What would Jesus do if he were in my place?

Conversion means seeking God, walking with God, and obediently following Jesus’ teachings. First, we must change within, in our hearts; then we must change the world by illuminating it with His Word. Lent is the springtime of the Spirit; it is the propitious season to open the heart. Give yourself a check-up. Is the love of God firmly ensconced in your heart? If not, Christ awaits us in the confessional to forgive us and renew us.

In a few weeks we will celebrate the resurrection of Christ. His victory over death and sin is also our birth into the new life of grace. Pope Benedict XVI wrote: “Lent is an opportunity to become Christians again, through a constant process of inner change and advancement in the knowledge and love of Christ.” This is precisely what Christ wanted to teach us in the allegory of the fig tree.

All the best…in Christ,

Father Wilson