Choice

The Third Sunday of Lent

Today is the third week of Lent and the Gospel speaks about God’s mercy. God does not punish our sins by sending us illnesses, earthquakes and disasters. These things happen to everyone, both to good and to bad people. In fact, not only does God not pay us back. He is instead, very patient with us and he gives us the time we need to recognise the wrong choices we made and to be sorry for them and to repent. When we repent, we are not only sorry for what we did, but we also change for the better. 

In Exodus, we read, “the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,” (Exodus 34, 6), this however, does not mean that anything goes. Today, Jesus is very clear in his words, he warns us that, “if you do not repent, you will all perish.” There is a fear, that we may feel satisfied, and accept our present way of life. One of the reasons for Lent, is in fact, for us to examine our way of living and make changes for the better. 

Today’s Gospel includes the parable of the fig tree. It reflects God’s patience for us. God knows that we need time to repent and to mature in our faith. God never stops giving us a chance to change and return to him. No matter what we did, God gives us time to change. We all need to change for the better; we all sin, some even grievously. However, like the gardener, God tells the owner of the tree, “Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it.” What is our fertilizer? We know that trees need nutrients to grow and bear fruit. God gives us many opportunities to examine ourselves and many opportunities to help us change and mature in our faith. We have homilies during mass, formation talks, the Bible and the sacrament of reconciliation and others. 

So, God not only does not get back at us, but instead, even if we resist change despite all the help that he provides, he continues to give us a chance to repent. God does not give up; God does not tire in forgiving us. Pope Francis loves to say that God never stops forgiving us, it is we who stop turning to him and ask to be forgiven. 

Today’s Gospel also asks us to stop and think, whether we are doing our best to produce fruit. This means that it is not enough for us to change and live a good life, we also need to help others to be better too. The tree does not keep the fruit for itself. The fruit is enjoyed by someone else. As parents, our children and spouses, should be the first to enjoy and benefit from our fruit.  

A reading from the Gospel of Luke (Lk 13, 1-9) 

Some people told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. Jesus said to them in reply, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did! Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them— do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!”

And he told them this parable: “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said to the gardener, ‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. So cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’ He said to him in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.’”

The Gospel of the Lord
Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

  1. Read the Gospel story so that you are familiar with it.
  2. Reflect on what the Gospel story is saying to you. Which points would you highlight and why?
  3. Today’s Gospel speaks about God’s patience for us. We too, meet with situations which require us to be patient. It could be that we need to be patient with our children or spouses. Are we being patient?
  4. We are like the fig tree. Do you feel that you are growing and producing fruit? In the letter to the Galatians, St Paul refers to the fruit of the Spirit, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Gal 5, 22-23) Which fruit do you grow? Which fruit do you need to produce more? How can you produce this fruit? 
  5. Together with your family find the right time to read this Gospel. The environment helps, so before you start, prepare.
    i. The Bible reading from St Luke (Lk (13, 1-9)
    ii. A candle
    iii. Cover the table with a violet cloth
    iv. A computer/laptop with the readings and clips
    v. Crucifix
  6. Go through the steps with your children (2 age groups are being suggested).
  7. Feel free to adapt to your situation
  8. Be creative 😊 

Have you ever asked mummy or daddy to give you another chance? Maybe they told you that if you did not put your toys in their place, you could not play with your tablet and you did not obey. Since you wanted to use the tablet just the same, you asked to be given another chance. In today’s Gospel, Jesus is going to tell us that when we make wrong choices, God is always ready to give us another chance.

  • God goes not give up on us; when we sin. He waits for us to say that we are sorry
  • When we make good choices, we bear good fruit as today’s Gospel tells us
  • A flower bulb
  • Soil
  • A poat

Do you like fruit? Which is your favourite fruit?

Have you ever tasted figs?

Today’s parable is about a fig tree.  A parable is a story Jesus told to the peope so that they could understand better what his message. The tree had been in the garden for a number of years, but it had not produced fruit. Imagine you had a (mention the name of the children’s favourite fruit) tree in your garden and it did not produce (mention the fruit). What would you do?

The owner of the fig tree wanted to remove it and plant something else instead. However, the gardener asked him to give the tree another chance. He told the owner that he would take better care of it, maybe it would produce fruit.

God is like that gardener. We are like the fig tree. The fruits are our good choices. There are times when we make wrong choices. Jesus tells us that although God is not pleased when we make bad choices, he continues to love us. God also gives us a chance to be sorry for the wrong that we did and to say that we are sorry.

Can you mention some good choices that you can make?

To understand better what is a good and a bad choice, we are going to play a game. You are going to sit down. When a good choice is mentioned, you will stand up, however, when a bad choice is mentioned, that is, something that you should not do, is mentioned, you will remain seated.

Note to parents: You may use these examples to play the game:

Good choices:

Praying, sharing toys, putting things in their place, no cheating when playing, saying the truth, behaving at church, taking care of pets, calling grandparents who, at the moment, cannot go out.

Bad choices:

Lying, fighting, cheating at games, disobeying, getting angry when you do not get your way.

God is very patient. He waits for us to be sorry. However, are we patient?

During the coming weeks, you are going to practice patience. You will see that patience is fruitful because you will be rewarded for being patient. You have a flower bulb. Do you know what flowers it will produce? You cannot see the flower yet, however, if you care for it, you will see it, in a few weeks’ time. Your parents will help you to plant it and they will show you how to care for it. They will tell you where to put it, when to water it, how to remove the weeds, what nutrients to give it. Slowly, even though you cannot see it, the bulb will sprout, and later you will see it coming out of the soil. We too, little by little, we get to know God better, and we start to love him more. The more good choices we make, the more we will love God, the more we pray and the more we read or listen to stories from the Bible, the more we get to know God. We will not necessarily notice that we are changing, however, just as we cannot see the bulb changing in the soil, change also happens in us when we pray and when we do good things. Do you know what the weeds represent? These are our bad choices. In the same way in which we remove them from the plant, so that the flower grows healthily, we should also try not to make wrong choices to become better children.  
Whilst planting the flower bulb, listen to, The fig tree song.

Sign of the cross.

Lord God, thank you for loving us and for being very patient with us. Help us to make good choices so that we may bear good fruit. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen. 

Have you ever tasted figs? Do you know what they are? Today, Jesus is going to tell us a parable about a fig tree. What is a parable? It is a story which teaches us something. Jesus used parables to explain something which was difficult for the people to understand.

  • God is very patient with us; this gives us hope and faith in him
  • Printouts of the activity (see note further down)
  • Pencil
  • Basket or container to hold the ‘fruit’
PrintoutDownload

Did you hear the parable of the fig tree?

Once, a man went out to gather figs, but the tree had no fruit. He had waited for many years, for this tree to give him fruit, but year after year, no fruit grew on the tree. How do you think he felt?

What did he want to do? (cut the tree and plant another one instead)

Do you think he was right?

Did the gardener agree with the man’s decision? Did he want to cut the tree? (no)

What did he want to do instead? (he wanted to care for it, give it nutrients so that it would grow stronger, and maybe give fruit)

The gardener wanted to give the tree another chance. He wanted to give it better conditions in which it could grow fruit. We too need good conditions to grow. To be healthy, we need food, water, clean air. To become good people, it helps to live with people who love us and in an atmosphere of peace.

Jesus wants us to be good children and grow up and be good as well. Good people, produce fruit. Their fruit shows, because they behave well, they help those in need, they love others, they forgive those who wrong them. Our fruits are our good qualities; qualities which show that we are friends of Jesus and that we are trying to live like him.

If we are like the fig tree mentioned in the parable. Who is the gardener? (God)

God, is the gardener, who gives us another chance to change and become better. God never gives up on us. God is very patient. He is ready to wait, until we are sorry for our wrong choices and ask to be forgiven. Jesus loves us; he has given us a great gift; he gave us a sacrament which we can receive when we are sorry for our sins. Which is this sacrament? (sacrament of reconciliation)

We listen to this Gospel during Lent, to help us remember that regularly, we need to think about the way we live and see how we can make our lives better. This week’s activity will help us think about how we can produce more fruit. You have pictures of different fruit (make more than one copy). On each one, write a good action you can perform. Every good action is like a fruit which grows in your tree of life. Everyone can take part in this activity. If you have younger brothers or sisters, the fruit can be printed on three different colours. The younger ones use one colour, older children pick another colour, while parents use the third colour. Everyone is to write on more than one fruit, so that there are a variety of good deeds. When everyone is ready, put the fruit in the basket or container and put this on the dining table. Every morning, everyone picks up a fruit (choose the colour according to age) and during the day, try to do what is written down.

To help you think of good actions, listen to, Fruit of the Spirit Good fruit, is like that which St Paul mentions in one of his letters. Think of actions which show love, others which make someone happy, actions which bring peace, and actions which will help you grow in faith.

During this week, receive the sacrament of reconciliation.

Sign of the cross.

Father, God, thank you for being patient with us. You keep giving us chances to change. Give us wisdom to allow Jesus to show us what we need to do to produce good fruit. We pray this, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Gospel in symbolsDownload

How to use this space

God speaks to us in many ways, including through the Sunday Scripture readings. Here you will find useful background and activities to better understand the upcoming Sunday's Scripture readings, helping you to connect the Scripture to daily life in a meaningful way.