Bearing Fruit

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This may be a hard truth, but I think it could be safely said that you and I are at times ungrateful. Here in the USA in the now 21st century, we have so much already given to us that we tend to take it for granted. We assume that what we have as gifts from God and from those who have gone before us are actually things that are our own and that we earned them. Like the tenants in the vineyard, we can get trapped into a way of thinking that ends up placing ourselves as the center of things, as the ones in charge, and even trample upon others as we seek for power and for stuff.  Whereas we recently heard of the parable of the vineyard workers who wanted more pay, now we have ones who want it all - the whole vineyard.

The church is the new vineyard. And you could say each on of us is a branch in a vine in that vineyard.

Each of us are expected to bear good fruit.

12 fruits of the Holy Spirit, expanded from Saint Paul's letter to the Galatians, ch. 5:

Love joy peace patience kindness gentleness goodness generosity faithfulness modesty chastity self-control

Poisoning the ground, disease of the vine so we cannot bear fruit: 7 deadly sins: Pride, Envy, Lust, Greed/Avarice, Sloth/laziness, Wrath/Anger, Gluttony.  If we let any of these grow in our hearts, we will not bear fruit.  These need to be rooted out – that is what Cnofession is for.

Rain and sunshine is ultimately God’s grace, but we can open our hearts to it through the 3 eminent (always at-hand) good works: prayer, fasting, charity.

Choose a fruit of the Spirit you want to grow in this week, and pray for it during this Mass.