Office for Social Ministry
And Jesus 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?’ The gardener 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.’” (Lk 13:1-9, third Sunday of Lent Gospel)
The Lenten season invites us to deepen our faith and cultivate it so that it bears fruit. Bishop Joseph Tyson of the Diocese of Yakima recently reflected on the Lenten Gospel parable of the barren fig tree, connecting this scriptural passage to his own family’s farming background and the agricultural life of Washington state’s Yakima Valley, often called the “fruit basket” of the United States.
Each year, thousands of migrant farm workers labor in the fields with the local community, harvesting apples, pears, apricots, cherries, nectarines, peaches and grapes.
Bishop Tyson recalled his mother’s cousin, Sonny, who spent more than 25 years growing cherries — an endeavor that requires patience, skill and care: “Harvesting cherries is delicate work. Farm workers rise early to pick during the cooler morning hours because the midday heat draws the fruit’s natural sugars back into the tree. Cherries must be picked with finesse to avoid bruising, and even the way they are placed in the bag matters — gently released from the bottom to prevent damage.”
This same kind of caring is reflected in the Gospel parable’s exchange between the orchard owner and the gardener. After three years of seeing no fruit, the owner is ready to cut down the fig tree. However, the gardener pleads for patience, asking for one more time to nurture the tree in hope that it will bear fruit.
Bishop Tyson pointed out that pastoral patience is vital for cultivating our faith.
“Perhaps all of us can take from this parable the importance of being patient — with ourselves, with others and with the institutions around us. It’s easy to tear people down or dismiss something as unproductive, but this parable invites us to see with the heart of the gardener: to tend with love, nurture with patience and trust that, in time, fruit will come.”
Bishop Tyson is also episcopal moderator for the Catholic Migrant Farmworker Network. The Diocese of Yakima’s “Calluses to Chalices” priestly pastoral formation program involves the bishop and his seminarians living and working alongside migrant farmworkers picking fruit in the summer.
“When you’re ordained a priest, you’ll prepare the table for them,” Bishop Tyson tells his seminarians. “But you start by being at their table. If we are to elevate the bread and wine, gifts of the earth and work of human hands, we need to know the weight of labor that goes onto the paten and into the chalice.”
Bishop Tyson’s wise words about the value of patient nurturing and pastoral solidarity are echoed in the recent U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ endorsement of the vital humanitarian work of Catholic Relief Services around the globe.
“As the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States, CRS serves as our collective hands reaching out to suffering brothers and sisters worldwide. The USCCB affirms the organization’s faithful commitment to Catholic teaching and humanitarian principles. Together, we can help restore these critical humanitarian programs that reflect our deepest Catholic values and our nation’s commitment to global solidarity.”
The USCCB through CRS assists people worldwide who suffer from war, natural disasters, violence and extreme poverty. That mission is possible because of the Lenten CRS Rice Bowl program and parishioners’ contributions to the CRS annual collection at the end of March.
This benefits church-related entities that all offer aid to the vulnerable in carrying out Christ’s mandate in Matthew’s Gospel to care for the “least of these.”
For more on the CRS Lenten Rice Bowl and the CRS annual collection, please visit the USCCB’s website at www.usccb.org and CRS’ website at www.crs.org.
Mahalo,
Your friends in the Office for Social Ministry
