Fruit you should Bear

Today’s Gospel Text: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If any one serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there shall my servant be also; if any one serves me, the Father will honor him. John 12:24-26

Reflection: The beauty of a fruit bearing plant is in its bearing fruit in due season.

What then do you say of that plant which does not bear fruit in its season? Would you want to keep such a plant for long? Such a plant would be a liability to the master.

It will occupy space, though it would not bear fruit yet it will absorb the nutrition from the soil, with its shade spread through its branches it will continue to have a negative influence on the other plants too.

Should our lives on earth, in which God has planted us in the midst of his creation and among other men, be like a fruitless plant?

What then is the fruit that we are called to feed others with, if not the very life of God?  If we feed them with fruits we are capable of producing, then we will be only feeding people with insipid, deformed or poisonous varieties, unfit for human consumption.

We look at the good fruit from the viewpoint of its taste, flavor, nutrition, attractiveness, quantity and the health that it is able to give us; the positive effect that it has on our system.

Hence, when Christ Jesus calls us to bear much fruit, he invites us to bear those fruit which are true to us, in keeping with our nature but nourished with the gifts that he has given us, he wants us to draw from the richness that comes from God, the very life of God, and then give to others.

No tree can produce fruit of its own, even if it is the healthiest tree, if it is not rooted in the soil and does not draw from its surroundings, under the bright sunshine. 

Likewise, should a Christian be, they draw from the divine fountain, which Jesus has made possible by his death and then having been thus sustained, give to others.

Prayer: Lord you are the fountain and source of all nourishment, teach us to draw deeply from the springs of your kindness so that we may bear much fruit.

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