III.- LENT, TIME FOR CONVERSION
Jesus tells his followers a parable that applies to us as well: "The owner of the vineyard goes to the fig tree to gather its fruit, and finds none." God comes to us this Lent, looking for something he expects to find in us. Are we happy that Jesus is asking an account of us? Are we surprised? Are we afraid when we see our lives like a tree full of leaves, but without any fruit?
Brothers and Sisters, this episode starts off on a worrying note, but it has a happy ending. God will make a final attempt to help his tree recover: he will take away the soil, put manure around it, and will wait for one more year, being patient with what he has planted with such hopeful expectation. We can't come to the end of our lives with empty hands. Lent invites us to conversion.
1.- Conversion means not being barren, dry and dead. God made you to be happy. Don't let your happiness be taken away by your difficulties at work, by nostalgia for your homeland and your family. Let no adversity wipe the smile off your face. Don't allow the poison of hatred to run through your veins; always forgive. Remember that the best come-back will always be forgiveness.
Cardinal Newman used to say that "to live is to change, and to be perfect means to have changed often." It's not a sign of instability, but of openness to continuous novelty. We won't achieve it overnight; it is a process that lasts our whole life long.
2.- Conversion means letting the Gospel penetrate our very way of being until, little by little, it is able to fill our whole existence. Lent is a time to live as Christ taught us. Saint Paul used to say that faith without works is dead. Let's not be afraid to do what he asks of us. Rather, let us ask ourselves: what would Jesus do in my place?
3.- Conversion means seeking God, walking with God, following the teachings of Jesus with docility. First we need to change from within, in our heart. Then we need to change the world by bringing it the light of his Word. Lent is the springtime of the spirit; it is the fitting season to open our hearts, to see if God is already inside. Christ is waiting for us in the confessional to forgive us and forget our past offenses.
Brothers and Sisters: in a few days we will celebrate the resurrection of Christ. His victory over death and sin is also our birth to the new life of grace. Pope Benedict XVI says: "Lent is an opportunity to become Christians again, through a constant process of interior conversion and of growth in our knowledge and love of Christ." This is exactly what Christ wanted to teach us in the lesson of the fig tree.