who were crushed when the tower fell, do you think they were more guilty than all the others in Jerusalem?
I tell you: no. But unless you change your ways, you will all perish, as they did.”
And Jesus continued, “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it,
but found none. Then he said to the gardener, ‘Look here, for three years now I have been looking for figs on this tree,
and I have found none. Cut it down, why should it continue to deplete the soil?’
The gardener replied, ‘Leave it one more year, so that I may dig around it and add some fertilizer;
perhaps it will bear fruit from now on. But if it doesn’t, you can cut it down.’”

REFLECTION:
St. Anthony Mary Claret was a great missionary, eloquent preacher, and dedicated educator.
He founded the Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, popularly known simply as the Claretians.
The Charism of St. Anthony Claret lives on in his sons who go on mission, preach the Good News (and provide this ­“Bible ­Diary),
and administer schools.
In today’s Gospel Jesus taught about repentance and conversion. The grea­test trage­dy is to die without
ha­ving made peace with God and fellowmen. There is a beautiful story of St. Anthony Claret. In one of his missions he had
the occasion to convince 4 criminals on death row, 3 teen­agers and one adult (Now recorded as the four criminals of Villa­franca).
Initially they all refused. St. Anthony advised them all to repent and to forgive also all who had hurt them.
One of the youth did not want to go forgive his mother whom he blamed for his predicament, for her failure to
correct his errors early in life. The Saint appealed to him in tears to be forgiving. Eventually, he did.
Later, the Saint received a divine message confirming the 4 being saved! Oh St. Anthony ­Claret,
pray for us that we may receive the grace to repent, be converted, and teach the Gospel!

© Copyright Bible Diary 2020