This Sunday where there are persons preparing for the Sacraments of Initiation at Easter the Gospel will tell of the Samaritan woman’s meeting with Jesus and his offer of living water. At other liturgies we may use this alternative Gospel, which puts before us not water but blood.

Some people arrived and told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with that of their sacrifices.

Sometimes we forget that violence and bloodshed were a very real part of the world into which Jesus was born and in which he lived. Unfortunately they are a real part of our lives as well. What is our response to news of blood being shed? Horror? Self-righteous indignation? Frustration?

Jesus uses this opportunity for teaching. Do you suppose these Galileans who suffered like that were greater sinners than any other Galileans? They were not I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did. Jesus calls us to look into our own hearts and see what needs to be changed.

When Fr Jason Gordon came to work in the Holy Rosary/St Martin de Porres parish cluster, the news of five murders there within his first six weeks caused him to ask himself the same question that Jesus asked and to launch into a real repentance, a soul- searching, to see what needed to change in his own ministry and to call members of the community to engage in a similar process.

He was saying: “Do you suppose these people who suffered like that were greater sinners than all the others? No I tell you but, unless we repent, we will all perish as they did.” Out of this has emerged Pride in Gonzales and CITY (Community Intervention Transforming Youth).

In recent times 13-year-old Choc’late Allen’s anti-crime initiative has also been a Jesus–response. Not getting caught up in just expressing horror at our local news of bloodshed and trying to apportion blame, she has called and continues to call us – all of us - to “repent”, to change our hearts, our minds, our values, to adopt values that will be life-giving. A crime-free Trinidad and Tobago depends on our repentance.

As a child, young and filled with hope, Choc’late Allen gives hope. And there are others too who in different ways are trying to do the same thing. They say to us that the barren fig tree, that in some ways our nation may seem like, can be saved. We can dig round it and manure it and see if it will bear fruit.

If we do not bear the fruit that come from a change of heart and mind and spirit, we will all perish, our nation will perish, our planet Earth will perish.

We have got used to different “viruses”. We complain about our symptoms but our streets are filthy. We throw our garbage in the drains. We provide breeding grounds for all kinds of germs. If we do not repent, we will all perish.

News of disasters – like the tower of Siloam falling and killing eighteen people – come to us almost every day through the world news. If we do not have a change of heart with regard to how we live and work and interact with others, we will all perish.

The effects of global warming have begun to be felt and we know that, if we do not repent, if we - and all the nations of Earth -do not have a change of heart with regard to how we relate with our environment, we will all perish.

Let us pray:
Creator God! You made us for life. You made us to share Your life. You call us to cherish and nurture life with you and in You. Thank you. Often we forget. Thank You for all who remind us of our need to repent, to embrace life-giving values.

They warn us that, if we do not repent, we will all perish. They dig round and manure us, hoping that we will bear fruit. Thank You. They remind us of You. Their hope reflects Your hope.

Thank you for parents willing to give their wayward child another chance. Thank You for those who minister to prisoners and former convicts. They are motivated by the hope that if they dig round and manure the seemingly barren fig tree it will bear fruit
Thank you for all who give us hope that if we dig round and manure the barren fig tree it may bear fruit.

Forgive us the times we throw up our hands in despair over the situation in which we find ourselves. We are ready to cut down the barren tree. We see no way out. We forget you God of life.

Forgive us the times we blame others rather than seeing what we can do to improve the situation. We are barren.

Help us Lord to recommit ourselves to life-giving. Deepen our hope that the barren fig tree can bear fruit.
Amen

Christina Araujo OP is a Sinsinawan Dominican who presently coordinates the Total Parish Catechesis programme in the Holy Rosary/St Martin de Porres parish.