Don’t wait until it’s too late (Sabong News)
Author
Fr. Rolando V. De La Rosa, OP
Date
MARCH 20 2022
Every day, we see wars, calamities, disasters through round-the-clock newsfeeds from the media. Our immediate reaction is fear because they remind us of the shortness of our life. But such a reaction hardly lingers because we have learned how to tune out our sense of horror.
For instance, when television or the internet shows us dead bodies scattered in a newly bombed city in Ukraine, fear and dread engulf us, but only for a while. The prevalence of violence in the news and the media has conditioned us to think that death, no matter how morbid or horrifying, is always the death of someone else, never our own. We see death from a distance, so, we get through the day feeling safe from its clutches.
Our gospel reading today warns us against such false assurances. If death comes suddenly to victims of wars and calamities, why should it be different for us? Life is unpredictable, and death comes without warning. The moment we are born, we are old enough to die.
In today’s gospel reading, Jesus also tells us that those who persist in their evil deeds and remain unrepentant will suddenly realize that they have delayed too long and have lost their opportunity to be saved. You might say: “God is merciful. He will never take back his offer of forgiveness.” That is true. But in the gospel reading today, Jesus uses the parable of the barren fig tree to remind us of the urgency to respond to God’s offer of salvation, not because God withdraws this offer, but because we only have a limited time to seize it.
Jesus warns: “Unless you repent, you will all perish” (Luke 13:4). TODAY is the day of salvation, not the day when you breathe your last.
You might say: “I am taking care of myself. I am healthy. There is no impending war in our country, and I live in a very safe subdivision that is earthquake proof and flood free. Why think of death and feel sorry for my sins? I will repent of my sins when I suddenly contract a terminal disease, or when I suffer an unexpected tragedy, or when I am on my deathbed.”
The gospel reading today tells us that an unexpected tragedy can mark the end, not the beginning, of the opportunities to repentance that God gives us. Our life has a limit, and so do our chances to be forgiven.
The judgment that will be rendered unto us is not determined by a deathbed confession but by our character which we develop throughout our lifetime. And how is a good character formed? St. Paul writes: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever you sow, you also reap
If you sow things of the flesh, you reap corruption
if you sow things of the Spirit, you will reap everlasting life” (Galatians 6:7,8).
St. Paul is telling us that we usually die as we have lived. Sin is a condition of the heart that prefers other things than obedience to God. If you have lived in such a condition, not wanting anything to do with God all your life, why would you want to be with Him in heaven? It would be like spending eternity with a total stranger.
