Excerpted from a reflection I gave at our Saturday Lenten vigil service.
This gospel of this 3rd Sunday of Lent (Luke 13:1-9) once again gives us that very biblical image of a fig tree. At least in Luke's gospel, Jesus isn't cursing it because it hasn't bloomed as he does in Mark and Matthew. Here, the fig tree gets another chance and extra care...but the threat of later being cut down still lingers.
We have a sanitized translation where the gardener says he will cultivate around it and fertilize it. The literal translation is manure. The ancients were smart enough to know to use animal waste even if they might not have known why it was so helpful. If you go into the Lawn and Garden section of Wal-Mart you can find numerous sacks of various fertilizers or boxes of plant food to meet all of your planting needs. If you look carefully at the description of the fertilizer usually three alphabet letters will stand out - N, P, K. These letters stand for nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. These are the three main ingredients that plants need. Think of them as “up, down and all-around”. Manure is extremely rich in these ingredients, especially nitrates.
Nitrogen helps keep leaves green, promotes healthier blooms and aids in the manufacture of chlorophyll. Phosphorous is primarily responsible for keeping the trunk/stalk healthy and helps with root growth and development. Potassium is a general help to the entire plant.
The phosphorus component of our lives helps our trunk/stalk and helps us put down strong roots. I would think of this as our monastic, Catholic infrastructure - the Rule of Benedict, the teachings of our Catholic faith, the sacraments, our monastic horarium.
The nitrogen component of our lives is what we can see - the leaves, the blossoms, the fruits we bear. I would think of this as all the acts of our daily living, speaking words of charity, acts of kindness, faithfulness to the Divine Office, Mass, lectio and adoration; how we live in community.
The potassium component of our lives is whatever is a general help to us. This will vary for each of us. It is those things that we do that help our spiritual growth and deepen our relationship with God. For some it might mean keeping more silence, for others it might be some sort of fasting.
If any one of these components is missing, the whole plant will suffer. If we don’t have the right quantity of each, those parts of us don’t develop like they should.
The thought I would leave you with is to have you ask yourself: What areas in my life may need a little more fertilizer or different fertilizer? Do I need more nitrogen, phosphorus or potassium? Am I honestly bearing any fruit at this time in my life? Or am I just exhausting the soil? ouch!!
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