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<table class="gmail-m_5307115096515073474layout gmail-m_5307115096515073474layout-table gmail-m_5307115096515073474root-table" style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)" width="650" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><td id="gmail-m_5307115096515073474layout-row-margin36330" style="padding:5px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;border-collapse:initial" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_5307115096515073474layout-row36330" class="gmail-m_5307115096515073474layout gmail-m_5307115096515073474layout-row gmail-m_5307115096515073474widget gmail-m_5307115096515073474_widget_text gmail-m_5307115096515073474style36330" style="margin:0px;padding:0px"><td id="gmail-m_5307115096515073474layout-row-padding36330" style="padding:10px 30px 0px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td id="gmail-m_5307115096515073474text_div35793" class="gmail-m_5307115096515073474td_text gmail-m_5307115096515073474td_block" style="color:inherit;font-size:12px;font-weight:inherit;line-height:1.5;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:Arial" valign="top" align="left"><div style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:1.5"> <div style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-weight:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><div style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-align:start"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-weight:normal;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-size:18px;font-style:normal;text-align:start"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-weight:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-weight:normal"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">Friends, <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>today’s Gospel includes the parable of a fig tree that bears no fruit.</b></span></span><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"> </span><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">This
is a standard trope in the theological literature of Israel: <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>the tree
that bears no fruit </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>is evocative </b><b>of</b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b> the moral person who bears no
spiritual fruit.</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>Every single person has a mission: to be a conduit of
the divine grace into <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">the world</span>. </b></span>Planted in God—think of Jesus’ image of
the vine and the
branches—<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>they are meant to bring forth the fruits of love, peace,
compassion, justice, nonviolence.</b></span></span><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"> </span><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">And
notice that this should be effortless.<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b> The closer God gets, the more
alive we become</b></span>. <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>But the mystery of sin is that we resist <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">the invasion
of God</span></b></span>;<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b> we prefer to go our own way; we cling to our own prerogatives
and our own narrow freedom.</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>And the result is lifelessness. It feels
like depression, like your life is going nowhere</b></span>—in Dante’s language, <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>
like being "lost in a dark wood."</b></span></span><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"> </span><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>In
Jesus’ parable, the one caring for the tree begs the owner for one more
chance to manure the tree and to hoe around it, hoping to bring it back
to life. But if no life comes, the tree will be cut down.</b></span> This is the
note of urgency that is struck over and again in the Bible<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>. We can run
out of time. We can become so resistant to </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>God’s grace</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>that our leaves
dry up.</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"><b>This is not divine vengeance; it is spiritual physics.</b></span></span><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"> </span><br><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">So don’t <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">be afraid of</span> God! Surrender to him.</span></b></span></b><br></span></b></b><br> <span style="background-color:rgb(246,178,107)"><b>Reflect: On </b></span>"spiritual physics" and <span style="background-color:rgb(246,178,107)"><b>the consequences of <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">ignoring</span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"> God</span> or<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"> turning away from</span> <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">him</span>. </b></span><br></span></b></div>
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