A personal Lectio Divina for +David Walker (Main Forum)

by Liz, Tuesday, May 18, 2010, 11:45 (1102 days ago) @ Oh Yet We Trust

During Lent of this year, we were invited by the Bishops to join with them on a Lenten journey, by using the Lectio Divina as a guide.
"The Reflection"
http://thereflection.vividas.c/

I think it worthwhile to revisit one of these readings and the personal reflection by +David Walker in light of these latest allegations.

Lectio Divina
Praying the Scriptures in
Lent and Holy Week 2010
Year C

Luke 13:1-9
13:1 At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

13:2 He asked them, "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans?

13:3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.

13:4 Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them--do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem?

13:5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did."

13:6 Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none.

13:7 So he said to the gardener, 'See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?'

13:8 He replied, 'Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it.

13:9 If it bears fruit next year, well and good, but if not, you can cut it down.

Reflection on the readings for the 3rd Sunday of Lent:
http://thereflection.vividas.com/pdf/LD_Lent_WEB.pdf

This week’s Readings call to mind our ability or inability to hear, see and know. No more are we to hear but do not hear, to see but do not see, for God does hear the cry of the Israelites as we read in the first Reading
and has observed their misery. We are left to do the very same as Luke’s
Gospel passage reminds us: Repent and seek to bear fruit that will last.
It is a God who hears, sees and knows us. A God who calls us and sends us out.

Bishop David Walker’s Reflection of this reading:

http://thereflection.vividas.com/

“The thing that I noticed at my first reading, was the importance of repentance. Unless we repent, we will all perish. And no matter what God does for us, unless our heart is open to God’s love, then we cannot really be saved. The message of John the Baptist, who came to prepare the way for Jesus, was that we should repent. And then Jesus came preaching the same message. We often think that Jesus just preached the Kingdom of God. Well, He did that, but the whole message was “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand”. So the repentance is the gateway to the kingdom, and the message that comes through in this particular text, is that we need to repent.

The fig tree is expected to bear figs so that the God that relates to us, not only loves us, but God calls us to respond in love. Now that same God always recognizes that we don’t always respond as we should. The temptation is to tear the fig tree out if it’s not bearing figs. So the sortof God we are talking about here, is a God that is patient, a God who is understanding, and a God who’s providence carries through and helps us to respond in the way that God expects.”

The next part of a Lectio Divino reflection calls us to take a word, phrase or sentence to meditate upon.

I call upon +David Walker to reflect on the following:

'Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it.
If it bears fruit next year, well and good, but if not, you can cut it down.

With all due respect here, +Walker, God calls upon us to tear the fig tree out that hasn’t produced any fruit. From the actions we have seen taken by Father Finian Egan, it can be said that with ‘all probability’, that he has indeed not hearkened to the instructions given to him, by you, whilst being still granted the life of a priest. Are you not going to hear the cry of the Israelites if you stand as the person of Christ? Actions taken by such as yourself will lead the Church into perishing once and for all, if you do not cut away the branches that cause sickness to the rest of the tree, the body of Christ.

I think there has been enough manure spread around already. As you said, “Unless we repent, we will all perish.” Times up, +David!

Billy.