Third Sunday of Lent (Year C) - 23 March 2025
23rd March 2025
“Repentance is the renewal of Baptism and a contract with God for a second life.” - St John Climacus
A reflection on today's Gospel by the Venerable Archbishop Fulton J Sheen:
"One reason for a long life is penance. Time is given us not just to accumulate that which we cannot take with us, but to make reparation for our sins.
"That is why in the parable of the fig tree, which had not borne fruit for three years and which the owner wished to cut down because it ‘cumbereth the ground,’ the dresser of the vineyard said: ‘Let it alone this year also, until I dig about it, and dung it. And if happily it bear fruit’ (Luke 13:6-9). So the Lord is with the wicked. He gives them another month, another year of life that they may dig their soul with penance and dung it with mortification, and happily save their souls.
"If, then, the Lord did not judge His executioners before the hour of their judgement, why should we, who really know nothing about them anyway, judge them even when they do us wrong? While they live, may not our refraining from judgement be the very means of their conversion? In any case, judgement has not been given to us, and the world may be thankful that it has not, for God is a more merciful judge than man.
"What Our Lord did say on the Cross was forgive. Forgive your Pilates, who are too weak to defend your justice; forgive your Herods, who are too sensual to perceive your spirituality; forgive your Judases, who think worth is to be measured in terms of silver. ‘Forgive them – for they know not what they do.’
"In that sentence is packed the united love of Father and Son, whereby the holy love of God met the sin of man and remained innocent. This first word of forgiveness is the strongest evidence of Our Lord’s absolute sinlessness. The rest of us at our death must witness the great parade of our sins, and the sight of them is so awful that we dare not go before God without a prayer for pardon.
"Yet Jesus, on dying, craved no forgiveness, for He had no sin. The forgiveness He asked was for those who accused Him of sin. And the reason He asked for pardon was that ‘they know not what they do.’
"He is God as well as man, which means He knows all the secrets of every human heart. Because He knows all, He can find an excuse: ‘they know not what they do.’ But we know so little of our enemies hearts, and so little of the circumstances of their acts and the good faith mingled with their evil deeds, that we are less likely to find an excuse. Because we are ignorant of their hearts, we are apt to be less excusing.
"In order to judge others, we must be inside them and outside them, but only God can do this. Our neighbours are just as impenetrable to us as we are to them. Judgement on our part, then, would be wrong, for to judge without a mandate is unjust. Our Lord alone has a mandate to judge; we have not.
"If, possessing that mandate, and knowing all, He still found reason to forgive, then we who have no jurisdiction and who cannot possibly with our puny minds know our neighbours’ hearts, have only one thing left to do; that is, to pray: ‘Father, forgive … for they know not what they do.’
"Our Lord used the word forgive because He was innocent and knew all, but we must use it for other reasons. Firstly, because we have been forgiven greater sins by God. Secondly, because only by forgiving can hate be banished from the world. And thirdly, because our own pardon is conditioned by the pardon we extend to others."
(The Cries of Jesus From the Cross)
Prayer for Forgiveness
O Lord, Jesus Christ, Redeemer and Saviour, in Your mercy forgive my sins. Count not my transgressions, but rather, my tears of repentance. Remember not my iniquities, but, more especially, my sorrow for the offences I have committed against You. Help me to mirror Your merciful heart so I may forgive all those who have hurt or wronged me and those I love. Amen. 💐💖🙏
Mid-point Lent Ideas
GIVE UP / LIMIT:
Sports (playing/watching), Television, Music, Social Media, Trivial/Unnecessary conversation, Video games, Smoking, Use of make-up and jewellery, Alcohol, Coffee, Chocolate and other luxuries, etc.
ADD:
One hour weekly Adoration, Daily Rosary, Family Prayer Time, 10 minutes spiritual reading (e.g. Bible, writings of the saints), Adopt a Priest (offer a daily prayer for them), Weekly Confession, Become active in an outreach ministry (pro-life, prison, homeless, nursing home, catechetics), 10 minutes of quiet reflection on the life of Christ.