March 23, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters, I hope everyone’s Lent is continuing to go well! This can be a demanding season, with lots of ups and downs, but it is worth it. When we commit to calling out by him at every moment, we experience the closeness of God. Today’s Gospel tells about parable from Jesus about the way generosity factors into our Lenten practices of prayer and fasting. A gardener has a fig tree that just won’t bear fruit, regardless of how much he fertilizes it. Have you ever felt like your spiritual life is like that tree? You make the effort, but things just feel dry, for some reason. In that case, generosity—and especially the corporal works of mercy—might be the solution! Here’s an explanation of why, from a sermon of St. Peter Chrysologus (an Italian bishop who lived around the year 400). He once wrote, “Mercy is to fasting as rain is to the ground. However much you may cultivate your heart, clear the soil of your nature, root out vices, and sow virtues, if you do not release the water of mercy, your fasting will bear no fruit.” The point here isn’t that we should live in fear, constantly wondering if we’re doing enough, but rather that opening our hearts to our neighbor goes hand-in-hand with opening our hearts to God. Through the intercession of Blessed Mary Ever-Virgin and St. Thomas our patron, let’s open our hands in mercy, this Lent and always. God bless,

Father Jantz