Falling leaves

Gospel Reflection

Jesus told his disciples a parable.

"Consider the fig tree and all the other trees.

When their buds burst open,

you see for yourselves and know that summer is now near;

in the same way, when you see these things happening,

know that the Kingdom of God is near.

Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away

until all these things have taken place.

Heaven and earth will pass away,

but my words will not pass away." Jesus told his disciples a parable.

"Consider the fig tree and all the other trees.

When their buds burst open,

you see for yourselves and know that summer is now near;

in the same way, when you see these things happening,

know that the Kingdom of God is near.

Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away

until all these things have taken place.

Heaven and earth will pass away,

but my words will not pass away."

Luke 21:29-33

The first time I saw a sineguelas (Spondias purpurea) tree was when I was in Bataan and it was a dying tree with no leaves at all. 

At least that's what I thought, only to find out later that when a sineguelas tree is about to bear fruit it would lose all its leaves so that all of the nutrition would go to the fruits. 

For the fig tree in the parable shared by Jesus in our Gospel reading, you would know when its fruit is getting ripe when new leaves would start to appear on the tree.

Our Gospel today is reminding us that just as we are observant of the things around us, especially that which matters to us most, we should also be observant with the signs that is pointing us to the coming of God's Kingdom, and we should be enthusiastic with every sign that we discover because the coming of God's Kingdom should be the most important thing in our life.

And in our lives, we may be experiencing a lot of challenges, we may be suffering extremely, we may be facing a lot of difficulties, but have faith because this is the falling of the leaves. These are the signs that God has given us. God has not abandoned us. When the last leaf in our lives has fallen, it simply means that we are about to bear fruit, so have faith, because as Jesus promised in our Gospel today, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." 

So, if you feel that you have lost all hope, hold on to His promise.

God's promise of salvation will always be with us, so go on and bear fruit. Let the love you received from God give you the strength, the power to persevere as you face the hardest moments of your life, the pruning that is badly needed so that we would bear more fruits, the sweetest fruit that we could muster through the grace and love of God.

When you see the leaves start to fall in your life, when you see signs of difficulty, then believe, have faith, remember God's promise, be excited because definitely this is the sign for the coming of God's kingdom, in your life and in the world.

Have faith.

Photo: Foad Memariaan | Unsplash