The fruits of a good tree

June 22, 2016 Wednesday 12th Week in Ordinary Time 1st Reading: 2 Kgs 22: 8-13; 23: 1-3 Gospel: Mt 7:15–20
Jesus said to his disciples, “Beware of false prophets: they come to you in sheep’s clothing but inside they are wild wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Do you ever pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?“A good tree always produces good fruit, a rotten tree produces bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit and a rotten tree cannot bear good fruit. Any tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown in the fire. So you will know them by their fruit.”

D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the
Assimilated Life
Experience)
Like good trees that always produce good fruits, Jesus wants followers to do good deeds all the time. If you find this too challenging, you’d even be more overwhelmed to know that the standard is the perfection of the Father (Matt. 5:48). But grace abounds to those who are committed.
Commitment to perfection is important. Without commitment every fall becomes self-submission in installment to hypocrisy. Only a sense of commitment to perfection will make a person rise at every fall to be closer to God then ever before. Without commitment, they don’t give two hoots about resuming the climb after each fall. They settle for performing Christianity under the glaring spotlights of duplicity. Any apparent good fruit they produce is harmful to their souls for being fruit of the proverbial poisonous tree. Neither is such fruit beneficial to others since duplicity drives people away from the Church.
Those who are committed will benefit from the grace of perseverance. “They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green” (Jeremiah 17:8). They may occasionally fall for being weak, but grace cuts the spiritual deterioration to the quick. They make little mistakes here and there, but their fundamental option remains strong as ever. In contrast, the hypocrites stand on shaky ground. With the self as their own God they waste their lives away by living lives of duplicity. Soon they will pull out from the ranks of the elect.
Lest we too fall from the steep spiritual climb to perfection, let God be at the root of our fundamental option. We will persevere for sure, though out of weakness we succumb to the devil’s allure. But every fall becomes prelude to a more determined climb, enriched by lessons learned from falls that do not bind. A sinner who falls but rises up once more is closer to God than ever before.

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