THE BEST TIME TO REPENT IS NOW, NOT TOMORROW

Almost every day we hear of one bad news or the other. We hear of different forms of accidents and many people die, people are kidnapped while travelling and some are killed even after ransom, people die of one illness or the other. Other natural disasters such as flooding, building collapse, fire outbreak and others also take the lives of people everyday. Some of us may have even been involved in some of these misfortune, but survived it. Some of us have been involved in an accident and we survived. When we survive such conditions or have not experienced it, how do we feel? Many of us feel that we are righteous and those who are affected are sinners. 

In the gospel reading of today, some people came to inform Jesus about some Galileans Pilate ordered to be killed. At the same time, the tower of siloam collapsed and killed 18 people. For many of us, bad news do not move us to deep thought and reflection anymore, we hear of them and move on, some of us say, "thank God its not me". We only feel the pain when it happens to us or those we know. We do not think that it could have been us. Many of us only reflect for a while when we attend funerals because we all know that it is our inevitable fate. 

The parable of the fig tree Jesus gave us in the gospel reading of today, makes us to understand that every single moment we live in life is a moment of grace, it is an extra time God has given to us to repent and bear good fruits so that we will not perish. Those who have died or are in some difficulty are not worse sinners than us. Let us truly repent of our sins now, tomorrow may be too late, the extra time God has given us may elapse. 

*Fr Michael Osatofoh Eninlejie, MSP.*