Saturday, October 26, 2019 Rom 8:1-11; Lk 13:1-9 ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
[In the parable of the barren fig tree, the gardener said to owner,] “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.” Lk 13:8-9
If we wanted to find a candidate for a saint at the beginning of 20th century, it wouldn't have been Dorothy Day. This anarchist and communist woman working as a journalist spent many nights with her friends and colleagues in pubs. It is hard to guess how much alcohol had flowed through her throat and how big a pile of cigarettes would be created, that she smoked. Even before her conversion and a strong desire to belong to Christ, she underwent an abortion, several short-term relationships, and a short marriage. After deciding to live according to the Gospel, she joined the Catholic Church. Christ's doctrine brought her to the streets. This time, however, to devote her time to the service of the poor. If we were looking for her name now, we would find it in the list of people whose beatification process is currently underway.
Can you see people as potential saints? Do you give them a second chance; a chance to start new, as God gives them to you?
“If the Church were to be as holy as you desire, you could never enter into it. Only by realizing that we are sinners can we accept that the Church is a sanctuary for sinners where their lives return.” Fulton Sheen
Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, Introduction, Section III, “The new evangelization for the transmission of the faith”