Saturday, March 12 : Saint Jerome

«It was not the season for figs.» The apostle Paul gives an interpretation of this passage in his letter to the Romans: «I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brethren: a hardening has come on Israel in part until the full number of the Gentiles comes in. Thus all Israel will be saved» (Rm 11,25-26). If our Lord had found fruit on this fig tree then the full number of the Gentiles would not have come in. But because the full number of Gentiles has come in, all Israel will eventually be saved… In addition, we find this passage in the Revelation of Saint John: «Seven thousand will believe from the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand from the tribe of Reuben» and the same for the other tribes (cf. Rv 7,5-8). They were forty-four thousand in all who would believe… If Israel had believed, our Lord would not have been crucified, and if our Lord had not been crucified, the mass of the Gentiles would not have been saved. Thus the Jews would become believers but would not believe until the end of the world. It was not yet the season for them to believe in the cross… Their unbelief is our faith; their fall, our rising. It was not the time for them that it might become the time for us.

maronite readings – rosary,team