429. Twenty-ninth Saturday of Ordinary Time
Meditations no. 381 (unofficial computer-aided translation)
The barren fig tree reminds us of our duty to produce fruit: apostolate and proselytism.
A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, āLo, these three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down; why should it use up the ground?ā
The barren fig tree symbolizes the people of Israel. Despite Godās constant care, they do not yield the fruit he expects, for they fail to acknowledge Christ as the Messiah and Son of God. The parable also applies to Christians who isolate themselves in their own selfishness, who wash their hands of the apostolic mission God has entrusted to them, and fail to bring their supernatural gifts to fruition.
Our Father once told us: acknowledge your failures, but donāt make a display of your indifference. How it grieves me to see a priest or religious not seeking vocations for the diocesan seminary or his noviciate. Itās almost always a sign that theyāre not content with their vocation, that theyāre unhappy, or even think theyāve been unfortunate. In contrast, when we love this special invitation God has made to us to cooperate with him, to co-redeem, then without silly or noisy expressions of triumph there arises in our heart not only the desire but truly the hunger to pass on our madness to others. Itās something that comes naturally, like the beating of our heart.
St Augustine said that one who gains the conversion of a soul has his own soul predestined. Well, consider how wonderful it is to bring other souls to share in our dedication, to travel the path of God. Itās a marvellous thing! Itās like ensuring that weāll receive a great reward in heaven! My children, donāt fall asleep. Besides, by winning vocations we obtain a nut and locknut so that we never abandon our journey.
Those who arenāt proselytistic give me the impression that they are a failure. Good is naturally diffusive. If I have something good, I necessarily want others to share in my happinessā¦
When we donāt spread fire, or at least warmth, to those around us, it means our own interior blaze is dying down. Proselytistic zeal is a clear sign of interior life. Therefore, everything we do must be marked by a spirit of proselytism, which is an essential manifestation of love for our vocation and an overflow of interior life.
And should we ever find ourselves alone for a time in some place, this should only serve to redouble our proselytistic zeal, for many vocations are needed, all the more so in that place which perhaps has not yet been reached by the spirit of the Work. Our Founder said: If a child of mine does not have this zeal for proselytism heās doing badly: heās moribund, his heart isnāt beating. Stir up your desires to multiply many times over. Theyāre calling us from all over the world, my children, and we need young people who are well-formed to go and work in other countries.
There are no excuses for ineffective apostolate.
In the parable, our Lord does not explain why the fig tree remained barren, but itās clearly not the fault of the soil. The tree is planted in the middle of a broad and fertile vineyard, and nevertheless it fails to yield fruit. But there is yet another reason to pity it. When a plant does not flower or bear fruit, neither will there be any seeds. And the tree that could have seen young new trees grow up around it is destined to remain completely alone in a field, with nothing to take its place when it dies.
The barren fig tree could well be compared to people who have not wished to love, who have shut themselves up in a barren selfishness, lacking the generosity to give themselves. Such people have a sad and lonely future ahead of them. This cannot happen to us, for the love of God will be the sap which renders our life and apostolate fruitful. There is no excuse for being unproductive, our Founder wrote. Some might say āI donāt know enoughāā¦ But that is no excuse. Or else āIām unwell, I havenāt much talent, the conditions are not right, my surroundingsā¦ā These arenāt excuses either. For in every situation God grants us his abundant grace.
We can always do proselytism, our Father stresses: when weāre young, when we reach maturity, even in old age; when weāre healthy and if we fall sick. I canāt dispense any son or daughter of mine from proselytism, since that would be to dispense them from having interior life. If anyone should excuse himself, itās because heās already lost his fervour and perhaps is already really a walking corpse. But donāt forget the dead can rise again, by Godās grace.
Apostolic zeal prevents anyone in Opus Dei from becoming like the barren fig tree: old and alone, unable to pass on its life to others. Even when physically separated from other members of the Work, we can never feel lonely. Our Father always gave us the same advice: gather a small group of friends for some charitable or cultural activity. If you are vibrant and have good spirit, from that nucleus of virtuous and cultured young people will come new apostles, who will share your ideals and longings, and who will bring you out of your isolation.
If apostolic fruit were ever slow in coming, we would have to examine our consciences, try to discover the causes, and apply the appropriate remedy. How is my apostolic zeal? What specific mortifications do I offer to win new vocations? What apostolic goals do I set each day? Thus we will imitate the vinedresser, who forestalled the owner of the barren fig tree from uprooting it: Let it alone, sir, this year also, till I dig about it and put on manure. And if it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.
Humble prayer and generous mortification are the weapons to draw down Godās blessing. Only in this way, our Father told us, will the field be ploughed and receive, together with the generous seed, the farmerās tender care. And then, with Godās blessing, the harvest will come.
Humility guarantees our effectiveness. The abundance of leaves should not deceive us.
The mercy and care God lavishes on souls is boundless. If ever, in spite of our efforts, our life were to seem barren, we would have to strengthen our hope and fight off any discouragement. For Jesus understands our weakness and is always ready to grant us his pardon and grace. On our part, we should strive to deepen our interior life, to root it more firmly in Godās love, and to open ourselves in a humble and docile fashion to the action of grace.
We need to imitate the example of the first Twelve, as our Founder urged: When our Lord called the first Apostles, they were busy mending their nets by the side of an old boat. Our Lord told them to follow him and statim -immediately - they left everything - relictis omnibus - everything! - and followed him.
Sometimes, though we wish to imitate them, we find we donāt manage to leave everything, and there remains some attachment in our heart, something wrong in our life which weāre not willing to break with and offer it up to God.
Wonāt you examine your heart in depth? Nothing should remain there except what is his. If not, we arenāt really loving him, neither you nor I.
In our zeal to correspond with Godās grace, we should be forewarned against a possible deceit conjured up by pride. The fig tree in the parable bore no fruit, yet its leaves gave it an appearance of vitality and life.
Similarly, a person can hide behind the screen of activism, which is a caricature of true apostolate, since it will fail to yield fruit. Our Father wrote: How pitiful the man who adorns himself with the foliage of a false apostolate, who has all the outward appearance of leading a fruitful life, but is not sincerely attempting to yield fruit! It looks as though he is using his time well. He seems to get around, to organize things, to be inventing new ways of solving all kinds of problemsā¦ but he has nothing to show for his efforts. No one will benefit from his works if they have no supernatural content.
We canāt let ourselves be fooled. Therefore we ask our Lord to engrave our Founderās words deeply on our hearts: None of my children can rest easy if they donāt bring each year four or five faithful vocations, who can call our Father in heaven āFatherā by living our spirit of divine filiation.
Let us ask our Blessed Lady to present our humble and determined resolutions to her Son. By her intercession we will gain the vocations we need to help spread the Kingdom of God the world over.