3rd Sunday of Lent: Video, Homilies, Images and Multimedia Slides

by Fr. Stephen, MSC on 4 March 2010 in Homilies

The following are homilies, images, clipart, video, toon and multimedia slides you might find useful for your celebration of the Third Sunday of Lent (Year C). In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus told a parable about a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard. Seeing that it hasn’t borne fruit, the owner said to the gardener to cut the tree down. But the gardener asked the owner to leave the tree for a year and give it a chance to bear fruit.

READINGS

FIRST READING: Ex 3:1-8a, 13-15
PSALM: Ps 103: 1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 11
SECOND READING: 1 Cor 10:1-6, 10-12
GOSPEL: Lk 13:1-9

VIDEO

The video below is about second chances, which is the core message of the parable Jesus told to his listeners in this Sunday’s gospel. Our God is so loving, that every time we fail He gives us a clean slate and a fresh start. That is because His only interest is for us to bear fruit. It can be downloaded here. If you don’t know how to download videos from YouTube then follow this link to watch a tutorial.

HOMILIES

Do You Deserve What You Get? [www.bible.claret.org]
Mercy is not mercy if it is deserved. A gift is not a gift if it is deserved. Gifts and mercy are what we get from God. Often the gifts are extremely well disguised – sometimes so well disguised that it takes a lifetime to recognize them as gifts! What comes to us from God, good or bad, is totally undeserved. But even if it is unsolicited and undeserved it calls for a response from us. These are the paradoxes of God’s ways of working with us, and Jesus is trying to grapple with them in today’s Gospel Story. Read more…
If It Does Not Bear Fruit, You Can Cut It Down [dailyscripture.net]
Jesus’ parable of the barren fig trees illustrated his warning about the consequences of allowing sin and corruption to take root in our hearts and minds. Fig trees were a common and important source of food for the people of Palestine. A fig tree normally matured within three years, producing plentiful fruit. If it failed, it was cut down to make room for more healthy trees. A decaying fig tree and its bad fruit came to symbolize for the Jews the consequence of spiritual corruption caused by evil deeds and unrepentant sin. Read more…
Third Sunday of Lent [www.catholicmatters.com]
The parable of the useless fig tree, while it applies directly to the stubborn Jews of Christ’s time, has a lesson for all time and for all sinners. God’s mercy is infinite but man’s earthly life, during which he can obtain that mercy, is very finite. God’s mercy can forgive sins no matter how grievous, but it cannot forgive even less serious sins unless the sinner is sorry and asks for forgiveness. Christ, our true mediator with God, is continually interceding for us, but unless we do our part by repenting and changing our behavior, his intercession will be of no avail to us. No man is lost because God so wishes it, but no man is saved unless he himself wishes it and works for it. Read more…