The fruits of a good tree

June 27, 2018 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)

Christianity is a challenging climb to perfection because no less than God the Father is the model (Matt. 5:48). Because the standard is so high, the likelihood of a fall is also high. But Christians are not totally helpless. God’s gift of perseverance provides the needed shot in the arm to get them back climbing the pole of perfection.

Those who do not have the grace of perseverance backslide to opportunism and become dangerous to others. Such are the hypocrites. Lacking any intention to resume the climb and get to the summit of perfection, they perform 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 it beneficial to others. Duplicity scandalizes the community and drives people away from the Church.

Those who enjoy the gift of perseverance become like the good tree that bears a lot of fruits. They may fall from time to time for being weak, but their fundamental option for God cuts the spiritual deterioration to the quick. They make little mistakes here and there, but their fundamental option remains strong as ever. Here lies the secret of their perseverance. In contrast, the hypocrites stand on shaky ground. Lacking the strong fundamental option for God they are always on the lookout for favorable public opinion and so live in pretense and duplicity. But their pretense will eventually give them away. On their own they will soon pull out from the ranks of the elect.

Lest we too fall from the steep spiritual climb to perfection, let God be our fundamental option. We will persevere for sure, though from time to time we succumb out of weakness to the devil’s allure. But every fall becomes for us prelude to a more determined climb, enriched by lessons learned from falls of the thoughtless kind, bearing in mind that a sinner who falls but rises up once more is closer to God than ever before. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M.

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