31 December 2026 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Latin Rite · Syro-Malankara Rite · മലയാളം
“He replied, ‘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.’” Luke 13:8–9
On the last day of the civil year the Church gives us a parable of mercy and urgency. A fig tree has borne no fruit for three years; the owner says, “Cut it down!” The gardener pleads: “Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it.” The new year is that “one more year”: a gift of patience, and a call to bear fruit.
The other readings complete the picture: atonement and reconciliation (Leviticus), the passing of all things compared to the eternal reward of the righteous (Wisdom), and Paul's charge, “There is great gain in godliness combined with contentment… Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called.” Thank God for the year, ask pardon for its sins, and begin again.
Theme: “One more year.”
Thanksgiving, repentance and resolve at the end of the year.
“Bless the LORD, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits.” Psalm 103:2
“There is great gain in godliness combined with contentment.” 1 Timothy 6:6
Apply: List ten blessings of the year and thank God.
“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22–23
“He replied, ‘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.’” Luke 13:8–9
Apply: Make a good confession before the new year.
“So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.” Psalm 90:12
“Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called.” 1 Timothy 6:12
Apply: Choose one fruit to bear in the new year.
God's mercies are new every morning.
Let us begin the new year bearing fruit.
Take-home resolution: Begin the new year with Holy Qurbana and a concrete resolution.
Dear friends, on the last day of the year Jesus tells a parable. A man had a fig tree that bore no fruit for three years. He said to the gardener: cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil? The gardener replied: 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 (Luke 13:6–9).
The new year is that one more year. It is a gift of God's patience. Christ, the gardener, pleads for us and works on us: digging around our roots through trials, feeding us with his word and his sacraments.
But the parable is also urgent: if not, you can cut it down. Patience is not endless. God gives us time so that we may bear fruit, not so that we may waste it.
St Paul tells Timothy: there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it. Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called (1 Timothy 6:6–7, 12).
The Book of Wisdom reminds us that wealth and pride pass like a shadow, but the righteous live forever (Wisdom 5:9, 15). As the year ends, let us ask: what did I build that will last? What fruit did I bear?
Tonight, let us do three things: thank God for every grace of this year, ask pardon for its sins, and make one resolution for the new year. Let us take hold of eternal life and fight the good fight. And let us begin the new year in the arms of the Child who was born for us. Amen.
Children, God gives you a whole new year! Thank Him for this year and ask Him to help you grow good next year.
Lord of time and eternity, we thank you for every blessing of this year and ask your pardon for our sins. Give us one more year of grace, and help us bear fruit for your glory. Amen.
On the last day of the civil year, the four readings work like an examination of conscience. Leviticus says that a wrong done to a neighbour must be repaired. Wisdom shows how quickly everything passes, except the reward of the righteous. First Timothy teaches contentment and sets our eyes on eternal life. Luke’s fig tree gives the whole day its tone: “let it alone for one more year”. The new year is mercy, and it is meant to bear fruit.
Setting.
Leviticus 1–7 sets out the sacrifices. This passage closes the section on the guilt offering (5:14–6:7). In the Hebrew Bible these verses are numbered 5:20–26. It treats sins against a neighbour in matters of property, where a false oath has been sworn in God’s name.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“you shall repay the principal amount and shall add one-fifth to it. You shall pay it to its owner when you realize your guilt.” (6:5)
Restitution comes first, and the victim is repaid before anything is offered at the altar. Jesus says the same: “first be reconciled” (Matthew 5:24). Zacchaeus does far more than the law requires (Luke 19:8).
“The priest shall make atonement on your behalf before the Lord, and you shall be forgiven for any of the things that one may do and incur guilt thereby.” (6:7)
The list of sins ends with a sure promise: there is a way back.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism says that many sins wrong our neighbour and that simple justice requires us to repair the harm, returning stolen goods and restoring a good name, and that absolution does not remove this duty (CCC 1459, 2412). Under the New Covenant, the one offering of Christ brings the forgiveness the old sacrifices pointed to (Hebrews 10:10–14).
Setting.
The Book of Wisdom was written in Greek, most likely among the Jews of Alexandria in the first century BC. In this scene the ungodly, who had mocked the righteous, now see them vindicated (5:1–5) and speak with regret. Verses 7–10 are their words. Verses 14–16 give the author’s reply.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“What has our arrogance profited us? And what good has our boasted wealth brought us?” (5:8)
Honest questions, but asked too late. The reader has the chance to ask them today.
“like a ship that sails through the billowy water, and when it has passed no trace can be found,” (5:10)
A fine image for a year gone by. What remains is what was done in God.
“But the righteous live forever, and their reward is with the Lord; the Most High takes care of them.” (5:15)
One of the clearest Old Testament words of hope beyond death, close to “the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God” (3:1).
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism teaches that each person receives eternal retribution at death, in a particular judgment that refers the life to Christ (CCC 1021–1022). At the end of a year this passage is not meant to frighten. It helps us ask what lasts.
Setting.
The letter is traditionally by Paul; some scholars think a later disciple wrote it. It is addressed to Timothy, left in charge at Ephesus (1:3). The author has just warned of teachers who treat godliness as “a means of gain” (6:5), and he answers by turning the phrase around: real gain is godliness with contentment.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it;” (6:7)
An old saying of the Bible (compare Job 1:21).
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil,” (6:10)
“Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (6:12)
The good confession may well be Timothy’s baptism, or his ordination. Every Christian may look back to a day on which a promise was made.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism warns against greed and urges detachment from riches, which is needed for entry into the Kingdom (CCC 2536, 2544). A year’s accounts look different when a Christian reads them in this light.
Setting.
Only Luke has this parable. Just before it, people have told Jesus about Galileans killed by Pilate, and he has spoken of eighteen who died when a tower fell. He refuses to treat them as worse sinners, and says twice, “unless you repent, you will all perish” (13:3, 5). The parable answers the question: how long will God wait?
Fig trees were often planted in vineyards. Isaiah had sung of God looking for fruit in his vineyard (Isaiah 5:1–7). Jesus speaks to his hearers, and through them to every reader: the point is each person’s response, not any people’s guilt.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“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?’” (13:7)
Justice is real: fruit is expected.
“He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it.” (13:8)
Christian readers see Christ in the gardener, who stands between us and judgment and works on us. The extra year is not idle time; it is full of his labour.
“If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”” (13:9)
Mercy gives time, but time does not last forever.
How the Church reads it.
St Augustine preached on this parable, seeing in the manure the humble sorrow of the repentant sinner (in substance). God’s patience is “not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9; CCC 1037). The Church reminds us of the urgency of conversion while there is time (CCC 1036).
Is the parable a threat for the new year?
It is a warning wrapped in mercy. The owner’s word is true, and the gardener’s plea is stronger. A Christian ends the year not in fear, but in thanksgiving for the time given, and with the resolve to use it.
Many Syro-Malabar parishes close the year with a service of thanksgiving. It is a good moment to do what the readings ask: to thank God for the year, to put right a wrong we have done, and to ask for the grace of one more year that bears fruit. The Holy Qurbana is the Church’s great thanksgiving.