WHY SHOULD IT EXHAUST THE SOIL?

Eph 4,7-16; Ps 121; Lk 13,1-9
27 OCTOBER

The Christian is immersed in history. He must walk in it always operating that sound discernment which is the separation of the thought of God from the thought of men. Saint Paul asks the Corinthians that they have a perfect judgment in order to evaluate if the true purpose of every spiritual gift or charisma lived by them is respected. Everything is given by God for a purpose. Everything is a means in view of the end. If the end is not reached, the means is used badly. It is urgent to make the right correction. The end of God must be achieved.

So with yourselves: since you strive eagerly for spirits, seek to have an abundance of them for building up the church. Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray to be able to interpret.  (For) if I pray in a tongue, my spirit is at prayer but my mind is unproductive. So what is to be done? I will pray with the spirit, but I will also pray with the mind. I will sing praise with the spirit, but I will also sing praise with the mind. Otherwise, if you pronounce a blessing (with) the spirit, how shall one who holds the place of the uninstructed say the “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying? For you may be giving thanks very well, but the other is not built up. I give thanks to God that I speak in tongues more than any of you, but in the church I would rather speak five words with my mind, so as to instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue. Brothers, stop being childish in your thinking. In respect to evil be like infants, but in your thinking be mature. It is written in the law: “By people speaking strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people, and even so they will not listen to me, says the Lord.” Thus, tongues are a sign not for those who believe but for unbelievers, whereas prophecy is not for unbelievers but for those who believe. So if the whole church meets in one place and everyone speaks in tongues, and then uninstructed people or unbelievers should come in, will they not say that you are out of your minds? But if everyone is prophesying, and an unbeliever or uninstructed person should come in, he will be convinced by everyone and judged by everyone, and the secrets of his heart will be disclosed, and so he will fall down and worship God, declaring, “God is really in your midst” (1Cor 14,12-25).

A tower falls. It does not fall because one is guilty. Falling, it manifests that there is no security in the life of men. In a moment you are in time, the next moment you are in eternity. Jesus asks this wisdom of man. Being life on earth is so fragile, it is right that everyone is always ready to operate the passage for eternity. The passage is prepared with a profound conversion of heart and mind.

At that time some people who were present there told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. He said to them in reply, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did! Or 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? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!” And 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, he 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?’ He said to him in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.'”

Another necessary discernment. The owner of the vineyard knows how to distinguish a tree bearing fruit from one that does not bear any fruit. The tree that does not bear fruit must be cut. The land must be exploited to the fullest. The farmer intervenes. Another urgent discernment. Can I do anything so that the tree bears fruit? Can I multiply my strength? I will multiply them. If the tree does not fructify, then it is right to be cut. Discernment is the essence of every man of God. If you plant a structure and it does not produce fruit, then it is right to ask: whose is the non-fruiting responsibility, of the structure work or the peasants that do not know how to cure it?

Mother of God, Angels and Saints, always make the Christian a person with perfect discernment.