The ‘land of opportunity,’ is hopefully something that this country will always be known as. So many of our ancestors came here with almost nothing and through hard work and many sacrifices were able to get a decent living for themselves and it continues today. A recent example is a friend of mine I got to know here, Xavier, from Mexico. We go riding together sometimes. He came here from Mexico in 1983, with $200 in his pocket and no English. He started mowing lawns, learnt English, eventually put himself through college and became an IT specialist. He was able to put his two children through college. I admire his hard work and determination.
As the country became wealthier, more people had more opportunities to do very well for themselves. When you grow up in this kind of culture, one of the dangers is that we only begin to see our time here as a time to gain as much as possible. But the Lord reminds us that there is more to it than that. It is good to strive to achieve and be successful, to use the gifts God has given us, but success is not just about gain. The parable of the fig tree addresses issue.
The fig tree was something special to the Jewish people. It normally took three years for a fig tree to mature before it would bear fruit. The point of the parable is that this tree was only taking and not giving. It was taking sustenance from the ground but giving nothing in return: no fruit. In this parable it is given another chance: ‘Give it one more year and then you can cut it down.’ But there is a final chance. Jesus was always very definite about this. We have choices and they have consequences. God is infinitely merciful, but God is also perfectly just. God won’t be made a fool of.
Jesus teaches us that we cannot be only taking and not giving back. We have inherited a great deal and been given a great deal. We have been loved and raised by our families, however imperfect that might have been, but the fact is we wouldn’t be here without them and without a lot of sacrifices on their part. We have also inherited a very rich Christian tradition, which God has made known to us. It has been passed on to us and many people have suffered for it and indeed given their lives for it. Now it is our turn to nurture it and pass it on to the next generation as best we can, not just to take what suits us and forget about everyone else. All of us are called to make sacrifices for those who come after us and for those around us, just as those who have gone before us did for us. When we die we want to come before God with good deeds to show for our time on earth.
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| The Fig Tree |
God teaches us what He expects of us. We are his creation and live in his world. Everything we have is from him and He demands that we use all the gifts we have to better our world, his world and not just take for ourselves. If we follow the path that God points out to us, it will lead us to life and to happiness, beginning in this life and fulfilled in the next. We are given much, but like the fig tree, we are also expected to give back. There is no end of ways that we can give back, but what is important is that we do.
Let me share with you part of the testimony of a man called Dale Recinella. Dale was a very successful attorney based in Miami. He was also a devout Catholic. In 1984 he changed law firms and his workload increased greatly. The focus on his faith became more difficult, because of the demands of his work. However, he was able to provide a very good life-style for himself and his family.
In 1986 he handed over the deposit for the construction of their new dream-home in Tallahassee. That evening he and his wife went out to dinner to celebrate, but first they went to mass. During the mass they heard the Gospel of the rich young man, who asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life (Mark 10:17-25). You know the story, Jesus tells him to keep the commandments. He says that he already does this, so what else should he do. Jesus says, ‘If you wish to be perfect, go sell what you have, give the money to the poor and come follow me.’ But the young man went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth. And Jesus went on to say, ‘How hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’
When Dale and Susan heard this, it struck them in a different way. During dinner, Dale said to his wife, ‘Do you think he meant it?’ And Susan said she didn’t know, but ‘nobody really takes that literally.’ They decided to pray about it and ask the Lord to speak to them.
Six months later Dale woke up screaming in the middle of the night, from a nightmare. Susan pressed him to tell her what had happened. He explained that in the dream he had suddenly found himself outside their house raking leaves with their kids. Suddenly he heard this voice of indescribable beauty which seemed to be coming from the setting sun. He wanted to follow it. Everything in him knew he had to follow it. His whole being desired it in every way, but as he tried to go towards it he could not. Something was holding him back and when he looked down he saw a massive chain attached to his leg and to the house. He did everything he could to break the chain, but he could not. He tried breaking off his leg, pulling the whole wall, but to no avail. The voice was starting to fade and he was getting more and more desperate to follow it, because he knew he could not lose it, until eventually the voice was gone and he was left alone in the dark. This was when he woke up screaming. They realized that God was speaking to them and that they had choices they needed to make.
Eighteen months later, Dale and his wife were out eating and he had a raw oyster. As soon as he took the first bite, he knew something was wrong. Shortly after he found himself in hospital and the doctor telling him that he had 10 to 12 hours to live. He had eaten a deadly flesh-eating bacteria called vibrio fulnificus, which can cause death even with contact on the outside of the body. He had eaten it. Then he heard the dreaded words the doctor said to him. ‘Dale you need to put your affairs in order.’ He began to slip into unconsciousness with his wife holding his hand, but after he went unconscious, Jesus visited him again. This time he found himself in a room and Jesus was in front of him in all his radiant beauty, but Jesus was looking at him with eyes of sorrow and the question Jesus asked him was, ‘Dale, what have you done with all my gifts?’ Jesus showed him all the gifts he had blessed him with, his intelligence, upbringing, education, personality and all the things that had helped to bring him worldly success. Immediately he began to defend himself saying that he had worked hard to give a good life-style to his family. They were safe, lived in a good neighborhood. His kids went to the best schools and their future was well provided for. But he realized as he was saying this, that everything he was talking about was for himself. Everything he had gained was only focused on himself and his family. And finally Jesus said, ‘But what about all my people who are suffering?’ He knew that he had no answer for this, only the shame of seeing his own neglect of everyone but himself.
He woke up early the next morning to the doctors unbelief. They had no explanation for it and said that what had happened was inexplicable. He knew that Jesus had given him another chance. From then on he completely changed his life-style. They began to live a much simpler life and he ended up working in a prison ministry, helping those on death row.
Why did all this happen to him? Not just to speak to him, but also to speak to us. Our world tells us that we need only look out for ourselves. If we have enough left over and enough time, then we can also reach out to others. But that is not what the Gospel teaches us. The Lord teaches us that our gifts and talents are not just for ourselves, but also for the people around us. When we have been blessed with gifts and opportunities, they are not just for ourselves, but also to help God’s people around us. We have been placed in the exact place we find ourselves, at this exact time in history, because God wants us here, to take care of others who need it. We must be careful to use our gifts and talents well, because they are not just for ourselves. They are gifts which have been entrusted to us. Thank God if you can enjoy a comfortable life-style, but remember who gave it to you and remember that we have a God-given responsibility to use those gifts properly. What we have here on earth is only for a very short time. When we come before the Lord, we want to be able to show him what we did with his gifts, as he expected of us.
‘What profit would it be for a man to gain the whole world, but to forfeit his life?’
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