Welcoming the Holy
Here we invite you to take time for yourself in personal prayer. The following spiritual reflection offers words and images which we hope will evoke for you an experience of God.
By: Sister Susan Schantz
Reading
Mark 13:24-32
Learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see these things happening, know that he is near, at the gates. 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.
Reflection
Even in a time of war, political chaos, and natural disasters, Jesus calls his disciples to meditate on the fig tree. Look, he tells them. Look at how a shriveled winter branch shows a small green sign of spring. Worlds and kingdoms will crumble, Recovery and rebirth will break out.
We can hope for rebirth in our personal winter as well. In a letter to a friend, Albert Camus wrote: In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.
Prayer
Our creator God, you call us to look deep and to learn the lesson of the fig branch. In the heart of all you have made is a promise that new life does emerge from destruction. We live in difficult and wintry times, but there is always the promise of your summer. Renew our endurance and our hope.
Amen.
