A Fruitful Tree

Homily for the Eighth Sunday in Ortdinary Time

In the Gospel Reading, Jesus says that every tree is known by its fruit. You can tell the difference between the good and the rotten trees by their fruits, he says; but he is really talking about us. But what are the good fruits that you have to bring forth to count as a good tree?

The Church teaches us that there are twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit. Every person in whom the Holy Spirit dwells has the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Scripture lists nine fruits (see Galatians 5:22-23), but traditionally the Church has listed twelve. 

The first five fruits of the Holy Spirit have to do with your relationship to the Lord.  They are: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, and Long Suffering. When you are a good tree, you have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you. With the indwelling Holy Spirit, you belong to our beloved Lord, and he is yours in love and joy and peace. In that loving relationship, you can also bear better the troubles of this life, and so patience and long-suffering are on the list too.

The next four fruits have to do with your attitude towards your neighbor. They are: Goodness, Benevolence, Mildness, and Fidelity. When you are inclined to wish the good for your neighbor, you have goodness; and when you are inclined actually to help your neighbor in good ways, you have benevolence.  You have mildness when you put up with a neighbor who is troublesome, and you have fidelity when you are inclined to forego getting revenge on him when he has been unjust to you.

Finally, the last three fruits have to do with your attitudes about yourself. They are: Modesty, Continence, and Chastity. You have modesty when you are inclined to be content even if you are not the center of everyone’s attention. You have continence if you are inclined to discipline yourself with regard to morally acceptable things. For instance, you manage to get your exercise in because you got yourself to turn the TV off. You have chastity if you are inclined to discipline yourself about those things that tempt you but that are not morally acceptable.

Now I am sure that we all realize that none of us demonstrates all twelve of these gifts all the time. We are all sinners. We fail often. In the words of St. Paul from the Letter to the Romans, “For what I want to do, I do not do; but what I hate, I do.” In other words, even though we know we are not supposed to do certain things that are infractions of the commandments, we all find ourselves breaking the commandments from time to time, perhaps even every day. Life’s pressures are great. We all lack patience at one time or another. We all act out of anger sometimes. We all give in to the temptation to speak ill of others, to join in the gossip around the water cooler.

Consequently, as we are going to be entering the holy season of Lent in just two or three more days, perhaps we can look at ourselves and determine which of these fruits of the Holy Spirit we are lacking and make it our Lenten task to grow in these “fruits.” Where do I need to improve most in order to be considered “a good tree.” In what way do I have to improve my conduct so that I can be considered the good tree that bears good fruit.

Lent is about conversion. Lent is about reacquiring our Baptismal innocence. Lent leads us to the Solemnity of the Resurrection. We spend these forty days trying to reimagine our lives in a way that shows that we hear the call of Jesus to holiness. So often we approach Lent as a Season of giving up something that we enjoy. However, we already include fasting and abstaining from meat on the Fridays in our observance of Lent. Maybe we should think about doing something that we don’t always enjoy instead. For instance, look at your relationship to God. Do I find Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, and Long Suffering in that relationship? Look at your relationship with your neighbors. Do I demonstrate Goodness, Benevolence, Mildness, and Fidelity in my interactions with others? Finally, look at your attitude about yourself. Am I Modest, Continent, and Chaste?

Now don’t try to work on all twelve of these fruits at one time. To do so would be asking for failure. Concentrate on one of these fruits that needs the most attention. Perhaps you can find yourself feeling like the good tree of the Gospels if you persevere. If you have all the good fruits of the Spirit, it will be easy to recognize you as the good tree that you are!