Mass and gathering to welcome Father Steve Concannon
A large congregation of parishioners attended the 5PM Mass who celebrated with Father Concannon and Deacon Murphy, with the youth choir led by Sheila Murphy.
I was impressed by the number of people who attended to support Father Concannon during his special visit to All Saints at St. Charles Borromeo Church. During the homily, we learned more about the message in the Gospel through the eloquent examples Father Concannon gave to put context around St. Luke's fig tree symbolism.
In other words, a fig tree needs cultivation to grow and God gives us graces to nurture our spiritual development.
The Gospel is from St. Luke, 13:1-9. Our Lord stresses that we need to produce plenty of fruit (cf. Lk 8:11-15) in keeping with the graces we have received (cf. Lk 12:48). But he also tells us that God waits patiently for this fruit to appear; he does not want the death of the sinner; he wants him to be converted and to live (Ezek 33:11) and, as St Peter teaches, he is "forebearing towards you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance" (2 Pet 3:9).
The Gospel is from St. Luke, 13:1-9. Our Lord stresses that we need to produce plenty of fruit (cf. Lk 8:11-15) in keeping with the graces we have received (cf. Lk 12:48). But he also tells us that God waits patiently for this fruit to appear; he does not want the death of the sinner; he wants him to be converted and to live (Ezek 33:11) and, as St Peter teaches, he is "forebearing towards you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance" (2 Pet 3:9).
I particularly appreciated the teaching from Father Concannon when he explained how "God does not ask anything from us in death that we did not accept in life."
In other words, the faithful have the opportunity to accept the graces we have received, or not.
Thank you Father Steve and God Bless You!
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