Coffee With God

Reflection: Luke 13: 1-9

A family that went through some tough times due to the illness of their child, found it all the more harder to go back to the Church. Not because they lost the faith, nor did they doubt the care and protection of God. On the other hand, the moments of pains and uncertainties strengthened their faith. But, they found it hard to answer the doubts of their fellow church members who were convinced that the illness of the child was a punishment from God for the sins of their parents or grandparents. Today, the gospel invites us to reflect on whether or not our uncharitable and judgemental comments drive people away from the Church. To believe that the tragedies, illnesses and calamities in life are punishments from God for our sins, itself is a sin, because thereby we are believing in a wrong God. If tragedies or calamities were any yardstick to measure the curse of God, Jesus himself and all his apostles and all those thousands of martyrs must have been the most cursed people on earth! What horrifying deaths have they undergone. Jesus invites us to believe in a forgiving and merciful God and not a punishing God. Unfortunately, even in our times, we do hear people talking about seeking forgiveness for the sins of our forefathers, to be saved from the punishments of God. But the Gospel invites us to reflect: What idea do we have of God? Isn’t that punishing, angry God just our projection, a god made to “our image and likeness”? Jesus, on the contrary, invites us to change our hearts – to abandon compromises with evil, our hypocrisy — in order to take up the path of the Gospel. The Galileans who were killed by Pilate or those 18 people killed in the accident – the tragedy was indeed caused by the humans and not by God. But such tragedies should serve as reminders for those who are alive of the unpredictability of our life on earth and therefore, to be always prepared to face the inevitable death. The Gospel is a message of comfort. Pope Francis says, this is a message that speaks of the patience of Christ, who waits like the gardener in the gospel, who pleads for another year of patience so that the tree might produce fruits. God’s patience always brings us the “year” of grace – this year of grace does not refer to 365 days, but the period of Christ’s ministry, the time of the Church before his glorious return, which is offered to us as occasions of repentance and salvation. The invincible patience of Jesus! Have you thought about the patience of God? Have you ever thought as well of his limitless concern for sinners? It’s never too late to convert. God’s patience awaits us until the last moment.