3rd Sunday of Lent 2025

 
Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles
 
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
March 22, 2025
 
My brothers and sisters in Christ,^[1]

First of all, let us continue to pray for Pope Francis as we just heard, he’s being released from the hospital. So he’s back in the Vatican. It seems like it’s going to take some time for him to recover, so let’s continue to have him in our prayers in a special way.
 
So as I was saying today, we celebrate the third Sunday of Lent, so we have reached the half-way mark in our Lenten journey; Holy Week begins three Sundays from now.
 
And our readings today are challenging us to reflect on the Lord’s mercy and kindness towards us, but also on the need for our continued repentance and conversion to him.
 
It’s interesting that in the Gospel, we see Jesus using two current events that happened during his times to teach an important spiritual truth.
 
As we heard, first he talks about an uprising in Galilee that Pontius Pilate responded to with violence and killings. Then he recalls the falling of a tower in Jerusalem, which killed eighteen people.
 
Jesus uses these events as a warning about the seriousness of repentance. He says in both cases: “But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!”
 
These are, as I said, serious words. And they are addressed to us, as well.
 
It was common in Jesus’ day to think that when someone dies in a tragic way, it means that God is punishing them for some sin they committed or for something they did wrong. As we know, people still think that way. But it’s not true, that’s not how God works.
 
As Jesus says, those who die are not “greater sinners,” they’re not “more guilty” than the rest of us.
 
So Jesus is inviting us today to examine our consciences and to reflect on our own life. And also about our own death.
 
That’s why we receive ashes at the beginning of Lent, on Ash Wednesday we are reminded of our mortality. We hear those powerful words: “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.”
 
So the purpose is not meant to make us afraid of dying. The
 
The point is simply that we all should remember that our lives will end someday and so while we are here, we should live our lives really well.
 
So, that’s what Jesus is getting at today in the Gospel today.
 
Jesus came into this world so that we could have life and life abundant! He wants all of us to have beautiful lives, he wants all of us to know joy and goodness and love! That’s why he came and died for all of us: so that we can really live! And have a beautiful life, as I said.
 
And Jesus has given us the road to follow, the only path that will lead us to the happiness that we all long for. That path is the Gospel, living according to his commands and teachings, following the example he has set for us with his own life.
 
But my brothers and sisters, as we know, that path requires ongoing repentance and conversion.
 
Repentance means changing our way of living, our way of thinking and acting. That is a work that will take our whole life. But it is a beautiful way to live. It means getting up every day and living in God’s presence and trying to improve ourselves, trying to grow in holiness, to be more like Jesus.
 
We all are like that fig tree that Jesus talks about in his parable today.
 
As we heard, the owner wanted to cut the fig tree down because it wasn’t bearing fruit. But the vinedresser asked for a little more time to “cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it.”
 
This is a beautiful image of God’s mercy towards us.
 
God wants each one of us to bear good fruits of love in our lives. So just like that vinedresser, he is giving us all a little more time to cultivate our hearts, to grow stronger in faith, stronger in holiness.
 
So, at this halfway point in our Lenten journey, our readings today are encouraging us to continue the work of our conversion.
 
And my dear brothers and sisters, the good news that we should never forget is that God goes with us.
 
We are God’s beloved, his chosen ones. And he is leading us on this journey of our lives, just as he led his chosen people in the desert. We should never forget that — God is always walking with us.
 
As St. Paul reminds us today, we have all been “baptized” into God’s love, and the Lord goes with us now feeding us with the “spiritual food” and “spiritual drink” of the Eucharist.
 
God gives us every good gift so that we will have everything we need to find joy and happiness in this life and be able to live with him forever in the life of the world to come.
 
We recall in the first reading today how God led Israel to a “land flowing with milk and honey.” Now, the Lord wants to lead us to a new land, a promised land, to the kingdom of heaven.
 
So as we keep going on our Lenten journey, let’s keep our eyes on our destination, the goal of our life, which is heaven.
 
Let us ask Mary, Our Blessed Mother, to keep going with us. May she help us to continue our repentance and conversion so that every day we grow more and more in the likeness of her Son.