Reflection for Wednesday, Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Word

By


Fr. Aloysius Santiago sdb
Rector and Parish Priest
Don Bosco Shrine
Lingarajapuram, Bangalore

Matthew 7:16

"You willknow them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they?"


Today's Reflection

In the 1st reading, Abram was beginning to have his doubts about the promises that God made to him. He was almost thinking of giving up having a son of his own.

It was then that God took him outside and said: Look up to heavens and count the stars if you can. Such will be your descendants.

It was only when Abram lifted up his eyes to look at the heavens and the stars that he put his faith in God.

It is when we keep looking at God and growing in faith towards Him that we will bear good fruit.

Looking down at the brokenness and at times, the ugliness of the world will only make us lose faith and get cynical and skeptical.

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus draws attention to the separation there can often be between appearance and reality.

Just as there can be more to some people than meets the eye, so there can be less to some people than meets the eye.

It is that second situation that Jesus highlights in the gospel reading.

He speaks of those who look like harmless sheep but underneath are ravenous wolves.

Projecting a false image, living a lie, is an ongoing part of the human experience.

Where our hearts lie does not always correspond to how we appear.

Jesus declares that the real test of what is in our hearts is the kind of fruit that our lives bear.

‘You will be able to tell them by their fruits’.

St Paul used that same language of ‘fruit’you when he wrote about the ‘fruit of the Spirit’, which he describes as ‘love, joy, peace, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control’.

Paul doesn’t speak of ‘fruits’ but of ‘fruit’. There is one fruit of the Spirit which can be described in all these different ways.

If our lives bear that kind of good fruit, our heart belongs to God, regardless of how we may appear at times.

We need to keep opening our hearts to the Spirit whom we have been given, so that the good fruit of the Spirit will be more abundant in our lives.


Resolution

Let us resolve to lift up our heads and look at the heavens with its array of stars and we will also lift up our faith to bear beautiful fruits for God


GOD BLESS YOU 🙏

Good morning. Have a nice safe day