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The fig tree and the cleansing of the temple are written using a literary device called a “sandwich.”
The day after Palm Sunday is called Fig Monday. Having a day named after a fruit is a delightful bit of Catholic culture arising from St. Mark’s observation that, on the day after Palm Sunday, Christ cursed a fruitless fig tree. It’s such an odd story and yet it fits in just right with the shape of the liturgical year, bringing to a conclusion an ancient and mysterious theme found in the Scriptures.
As St. Mark tells it, the morning after Palm Sunday, Our Lord is hungry, so when he spies a fig tree in the distance he approaches it looking for figs to eat. Even though it isn’t the right season for figs, as everybody well knew. It would be like looking for apples on my tree in St. Louis in January (or flowers in the desert in winter). The tree is obviously fruitless. Our Lord curses it and then proceeds on his way to empty the temple of money-changers.
On the way back, he and his disciples pass the same fig tree, which is now withered. Christ stops under the skeletal branches and begins to teach his disciples about prayer. That’s the end of it. As I said, it’s an eccentric story.
Continued below.
The day after Palm Sunday is called Fig Monday. Having a day named after a fruit is a delightful bit of Catholic culture arising from St. Mark’s observation that, on the day after Palm Sunday, Christ cursed a fruitless fig tree. It’s such an odd story and yet it fits in just right with the shape of the liturgical year, bringing to a conclusion an ancient and mysterious theme found in the Scriptures.
As St. Mark tells it, the morning after Palm Sunday, Our Lord is hungry, so when he spies a fig tree in the distance he approaches it looking for figs to eat. Even though it isn’t the right season for figs, as everybody well knew. It would be like looking for apples on my tree in St. Louis in January (or flowers in the desert in winter). The tree is obviously fruitless. Our Lord curses it and then proceeds on his way to empty the temple of money-changers.
On the way back, he and his disciples pass the same fig tree, which is now withered. Christ stops under the skeletal branches and begins to teach his disciples about prayer. That’s the end of it. As I said, it’s an eccentric story.
Continued below.
Why Holy Week has Fig Monday
The fig tree and the cleansing of the temple are written using a literary device called a “sandwich.”
aleteia.org