Friends,
in today’s Gospel Jesus tell us that a tree is known by its fruits. In
the fifth chapter of his letter to the Galatians, Paul makes this very
specific. He tells us that the
fruits of the Holy Spirit are "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control," implying that
the Spirit’s presence in one’s life can be read from its radiance in
these soul-expanding qualities.
All of Paul’s "fruits of the Holy Spirit" are marks of an outward-looking, expansive magna anima (great soul), which stands in contradistinction to the pusilla anima
(the cramped soul) of the sinner. Thus love is willing the good of the
other as other; joy is self-diffusive; patience bears with the
troublesome; kindness makes the other gentle; self-control restricts the
havoc that the ego can cause; etc.
When is the Spirit present? When these attributes are awakened and sustained; when our souls are made great.
Wednesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 373
The high priest Hilkiah informed the scribe Shaphan,
"I have found the book of the law in the temple of the LORD."
Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, who read it.
Then the scribe Shaphan went to the king and reported,
"Your servants have smelted down the metals available in the temple
and have consigned them to the master workmen
in the temple of the LORD."
The scribe Shaphan also informed the king
that the priest Hilkiah had given him a book,
and then read it aloud to the king.
When the king heard the contents of the book of the law,
he tore his garments and issued this command to Hilkiah the priest,
Ahikam, son of Shaphan,
Achbor, son of Micaiah, the scribe Shaphan,
and the king's servant Asaiah:
"Go, consult the LORD for me, for the people, for all Judah,
about the stipulations of this book that has been found,
for the anger of the LORD has been set furiously ablaze against us,
because our fathers did not obey the stipulations of this book,
nor fulfill our written obligations."
The king then had all the elders of Judah
and of Jerusalem summoned together before him.
The king went up to the temple of the LORD with all the men of Judah
and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem:
priests, prophets, and all the people, small and great.
He had the entire contents of the book of the covenant
that had been found in the temple of the LORD, read out to them.
Standing by the column, the king made a covenant before the LORD
that they would follow him
and observe his ordinances, statutes and decrees
with their whole hearts and souls,
thus reviving the terms of the covenant
which were written in this book.
And all the people stood as participants in the covenant.
Jesus said to his disciples:
"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing,
but underneath are ravenous wolves.
By their fruits you will know them.
Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
Just so, every good tree bears good fruit,
and a rotten tree bears bad fruit.
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit,
nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit.
Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down
and thrown into the fire.
So by their fruits you will know them."
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