SPEAKER_00: There's a line in this first reading today that almost sounds like it could have been written this morning for our world.
SPEAKER_00: The end of all things is at hand.
SPEAKER_00: St.
SPEAKER_00: Peter's not trying to scare people.
SPEAKER_00: He's trying to wake them up.
SPEAKER_00: He's reminding Christians that life is short, eternity is real, and therefore we cannot afford to live distracted, superficial, or spiritually asleep.
SPEAKER_00: What is fascinating is what Peter does not say.
SPEAKER_00: He does not say panic.
SPEAKER_00: He does not say isolate yourselves.
SPEAKER_00: He does not say spend your life angry at the world.
SPEAKER_00: No, instead he says, pray seriously, love intensely, serve generously, be hospitable, use your gifts, stay faithful in suffering.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, if the world feels unstable, the answer is not fear.
SPEAKER_00: The answer is holiness, faithfulness.
SPEAKER_00: Then the gospel gives us this strange moment where Jesus curses the fig tree.
SPEAKER_00: At first glance it almost feels harsh.
SPEAKER_00: Why would Jesus be angry at a tree for not having figs?
SPEAKER_00: Of course, the fig tree is symbolic.
SPEAKER_00: It had leaves, it looked alive, it looked fruitful from a distance.
SPEAKER_00: But when Jesus came close there was nothing there.
SPEAKER_00: That's the warning.
SPEAKER_00: God is not interested in appearances alone.
SPEAKER_00: He's not impressed by leaves.
SPEAKER_00: And honestly, that may be one of the greatest spiritual dangers of our time.
SPEAKER_00: We can project an image of faith without actually being rooted in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: We can look beautiful on the outside, very holy, very pious.
SPEAKER_00: We can know Catholic language without having the conversation.
SPEAKER_00: We can appear religious while our hearts slowly drift from God.
SPEAKER_00: The temple in Jerusalem had become the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: Outwardly religious, inwardly corrupt.
SPEAKER_00: People were buying, selling, exploiting, distracting.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus enters with holy zeal because the temple had forgotten its purpose.
SPEAKER_00: He says, The house shall be called the house of prayer.
SPEAKER_00: My house shall be called a house of prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Then the gospel turns directly to us.
SPEAKER_00: Because Saint Paul says elsewhere that now we are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: So the question becomes what is happening inside the temple of my soul?
SPEAKER_00: What tables need to be overturned?
SPEAKER_00: What noise needs to be driven out?
SPEAKER_00: What compromise have I allowed to remain?
SPEAKER_00: What bitterness have I kept alive for many years?
SPEAKER_00: Because notice how Jesus ends the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: He speaks about prayer, about faith and forgiveness altogether.
SPEAKER_00: They are all connected.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever you ask it for in prayer, believe.
SPEAKER_00: And then immediately he says, When you stand to pray, forgive.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because resentment hardens the heart, and a hardened heart cannot bear fruit.
SPEAKER_00: Some people wonder why their spiritual life feels dry.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's not because God is absent.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's because the soul has become crowded with anger, ego, pride, jealousy, impurity, constant distractions, or even old wounds.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord today is trying to cleanse our temple again, not to destroy us, not to shame us, but to heal us, to make us fruitful.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's the invitation today.
SPEAKER_00: Stop worrying so much about appearances.
SPEAKER_00: Stop living only at the service level.
SPEAKER_00: Let Christ come close enough to inspect the tree.
SPEAKER_00: Because the beautiful things about the gospel is this the Lord never asks us to produce fruit alone.
unknown: St.
SPEAKER_00: Peter says, Whoever serves, let it be with the strength God supplies.
SPEAKER_00: God never asks you to fake holiness.
SPEAKER_00: He asks you to remain connected to Him.
SPEAKER_00: And when you pray seriously, when you love intensely, when you forgive freely, and stay faithful through suffering, eventually the soul begins to bear fruit.
SPEAKER_00: Not fake leaves, real holiness, real peace, real charity, real strength.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what's astonishing the world.
SPEAKER_00: Not Christians who merely look religious from the dist from a distance, but Christians who live actually revealing the presence of Christ to the world.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.