Lk 13:1-9
1[One time,] some people who were present [in the crowd] told [Jesus] about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. 2He said to them in reply, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? 3By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did! 4Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem?
5By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!” 6And he told them this parable: “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, 7he said to the gardener, ‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. [So] cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’ 8He said to him in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; 9it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.’ ”
Reflection:
If you do not repent, you will all perish as they did! The great flood that brought destruction to lives and property was called an “act of God.” I vehemently disagree. It was not an act of God but an act of nature rebelling against us because of what we have been doing to her! We have cut down trees and denuded our forests. We have clogged the streams with our garbage. We have converted bodies of water into villages. We have built houses on the river banks. Our emission gases are causing climate change. And we have the guts to call the floods an act of God. When we do not want to take responsibilities for our actions, we blame anybody, including God, so we can collect from our insurance company.
But we do not blame God for our many blessings. God saw everything as good; we see everything as profit. Sigh!
Lessen your garbage and dispose it properly!