Fruit of the Spirit

“Let us love not in word or speech
but in deed and truth.”

1 John 3:18

Jesus speaks to the intimate relationship that exists between Him and His followers using the imagery of vine and branches. Just as the branches can only exist and grow only if they remain grafted onto the vine, so too, the extent to which the followers of Christ are true followers depend on their dependence on the Lord. The vine is the source of life for the branches. Jesus ought to be the source of our life and all that we do, but is He? How do we know? The answer may lie in the fruit that we bear.

St. John encourages us to not simply love with our words; in other words, do not just pay lip service. We ought not to simply say, “I love the Lord” or “I love my brothers and sisters,” but rather to show it. We cannot say “I love the Lord” and do things that do not show this. We cannot say we love the Lord and deny life to the unborn or neglect the poor and the hungry. We cannot love the Lord and hate our neighbor. We cannot profess to know the Lord when we do not pray or spend time with Him. The fruit of our “love” will show if our live is true. The fruit in our lives will show whether we are grafted onto the True Vine that is Christ or the vine of the world.

We must live in the Truth and love with our whole beings, feeding the poor, clothing the naked, instructing the ignorant, visiting the imprisoned, and caring for orphans and widows. The Lord took on our human flesh so that we might share in His divinity, partaking in the communal life of the Trinity, partaking in love eternal.

Let us today examine our lives and reflect on the kinds of fruit we have borne. Do they reflect the Father’s love? Do they reflect our own ambitions? If we truly remain in the Lord, the Spirit will dwell within us, and the fruit we bear will lead us to God. The fruit of the Spirit is love and peace. Let us choose to remain in the Lord today and to be grafted onto to Christ so that all that we think, say, and do might reveal to ourselves and others the love that moved the Lord to the Cross.

Click below the watch this week’s reflection.

Do You Know the Lord?

“I am the good shepherd,
and I know mine and mine know me,
just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.”

John 10:14-15a

On the Fourth Sunday of Easter the Church celebrates “Good Shepherd Sunday,” because we hear the Gospel in which the Lord says He is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep. There exists between the shepherd and the sheep a unique bond and relationship. The sheep relies entirely on the shepherd. They know the shepherd will be there to protect them. The shepherd loves his sheep. As Christians, we are the sheep of the flock of the Good Shepherd. Do we know Him?

Jesus says that He knows His [sheep] and they know Him, but do we really know Him? Do we really know the voice of the Good Shepherd? Perhaps the more important question is do we see ourselves as the sheep of the Good Shepherd? Only when we see ourselves as sheep will we acknowledge the need for a shepherd. As Christians we are called to follow the Lord, to walk in His footsteps, and to live out our lives so that others might come to encounter Him in us. We must bear the face of Christ in our lives. We must remember that who we are and who we are called to be is rooted in Jesus, the Christ, the Good Shepherd. How well do our lives reflect Jesus Christ?

In order to follow the Good Shepherd we must learn to hear His voice. There are many voices that call out to us in our daily lives — the voice of God, our own voice, the voices of those whom we love, the voices that lead us to sin. In today’s world the voices that tell us to seek what gives us pleasure and to do what we please is quite loud, drowning out not just the voice of reason in our hearts, but also the Voice of the Good Shepherd that seeks to bring us peace. When we attune our hearts to the frequency of this world and its fleeting pleasures, we forget who we are, that we are the sheep of the One who cries out to us.

The voice of the Good Shepherd and the voice of the world do not exist on the same wavelength. We must choose to turn the dial to the frequency that speaks truth and love and peace. Only then will we be able to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd. When we finally hear His voice, we will be able to know Him more and more intimately. When we hear His Voice, we will be led to His Word; when we come to read His Word, we will come to know Him, and when we know Him, He will lead us to His heart, which beats for love of us. The Good Shepherd calls out to you. He knows you. Do you know Him?

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Liars and Hypocrites

“Those who say, ‘I know him,’ but do not keep his commandments
are liars, and the truth is not in them.
But whoever keeps his word,
the love of God is truly perfected in him.”

1 John 2:4-5a

On the Third Sunday of Easter we are once again presented with the account of Jesus appearing to the Apostles (Lukan account). Last Sunday we heard John’s account of Jesus appearing to the Apostles and saying, “Peace be with you.” It seems as if John’s account has a more sacramental touch to it, whereas Luke presents this encounter between Jesus and the Apostles from a more pastoral approach. John speaks of Jesus breathing on them, sending them forth as He has been sent, and forgiving and retaining sins, reminiscent of the sacraments. In Luke’s account, Jesus appears to the Apostles and He tries so hard to convince the Apostles that it is truly Him, not a ghost or a mirage. Perhaps Luke wants to convey to the reader (predominantly Gentiles) that Jesus is who He says He is and we have every reason to believe so.

In Luke’s account, we hear Jesus ask the Apostles why they are troubled and why they are raising questions in their hearts. To prove that He is not a ghost, Jesus asks the Apostles for some food so that they can see it does not go through Him! In some ways, Jesus is saying, “It is me! I’m not lying to you!” Before His passion, Jesus predicted His passion three times and shared with the Apostles that He must suffer and die, but will rise. And, He did. Jesus reminds them, “You are witnesses of these things” so they ought to bear witness to this truth, knowing that sin and death have no power of Jesus and those who follow Him. St. John also similarly reminds the followers of Christ that to follow Him, we must follow His commands. Otherwise, we’d be liars.

St. John encourages us to keep Jesus’s word. Jesus is the Word made flesh, so it makes complete sense that to say we know Him is to know His word. If we profess to know Jesus and to be a Christian, and we do not follow His word or His commandments, then we are being hypocrites and liars. Yet, even if we find ourselves being duplicitous or hypocritical, like with the Apostles, Jesus still comes to us and offers us His peace and mercy. Even when we find ourselves lying and being untruthful and unfaithful to the Lord, He seeks to not shame but to love and forgive. We only need to want to seek it and receive it.

Click below to watch this week’s reflection.