Today’s Gospel reminds us that our relationship with Jesus is similar to a tree and its branches. The branch has to spring forth from the main trunk of the tree, and so too, a Christian must be likewise rooted in Christ so as to live and move and have his being.
The next thing Jesus speaks about however, is the importance of bearing fruit. It is not enough, according to the high, lofty and dignified standards the children of God are held to, to remain simply branches, feeding on the main vine… they are called to produce fruit for the sake of the Kingdom of God and out of gratitude for the manifold blessings received in life.
In today’s Second Reading, which is from the First Letter of John, we get an indication of what that fruit looks like:
“Little children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.” 3:18.
Linked to the imagery therefore that Jesus is using and which the second reading taps into, is authenticity. Being genuine Christians, and not just advertising or posing as such.
For example, I’m a priest. I have this incredible dignity but also responsibility entrusted to me to lift the people’s offering of themselves up to the Father, by presenting Jesus to him from the Altar, through the power of the Holy Spirit. The people see a man adorned in beautiful liturgical vestments. They experience the orderliness of the Mass, and the holiness that is inherent in it. They see the priests gestures, his hands raised in petition and the sublime prayers he prays to God on behalf of the community.
People see goodness, purity.. family members are proud, friends bring others to Holy Mass because it is good and holy. What is being advertised is praiseworthy. What is being presented is a tree bearing fruit. Now, if the priest, in splendid attire, is celebrating in a state of mortal sin, the exteriors will normally still all be there. When Jesus reaches towards that tree, however, like he did with the fig tree on Monday of Holy Week, and parting the foliage finds no fruit, what will he do? It's false advertisement. You see, this is why Jesus was so saddened and upset at a lot of the Pharisees: “you are like whited tombs, all beautiful on the outside, but full of dead men’s bones and old corruption on the inside” Matthew 23:27. What’s on the inside matters to Jesus, and we know very well how much it matters to us as well because when something isn’t right on the inside we don’t function well. We know something is wrong, something is off, and we run to the confessional as we should. All of it is God’s goodness and the opportunities he gives us to find healing in making things right.
Bishop Fulton Sheen once pointed out the same when he said:
“The principal reason for the increase of nervous disorders in the world is due to hidden guilt or untoned sin locked on the inside until it festered. These souls are running off to psychoanalysts to have their sins explained away when what they need is to get down on their knees and right themselves with God.
When disgusted with our sins, we can go into a confessional, become our own accuser, hear the words of absolution Our Lord Himself gave, make amends and start life all over again, for none of us wants our sins explained away; we want them forgiven. That is the miracle of the sacrament of Penance and the rekindling of hope.” (1)
We want to be genuine and we want to see it in others as well, and when we do, what a relief it is! In the first reading, this is precisely what the people were searching for in Saint Paul, who was once Saul: authenticity. Was he really a new man? Was he really who he claimed he was.. a man transformed by the power of the risen Lord? Did he really see the Lord? The early Christians weren’t buying it. They thought it was false advertising. You see, sometimes you can be sincere and the genuine thing and persecuted for it, and sometimes you can be a fake and extolled, embraced and loved for it. But all the while, the hound of heaven will pursue us on the inside and knock at the door of our hearts and gently and tenderly remind us that there’s a better way.
Let us strive, dear brothers and sisters, to be more and more genuine in our relationship with God and with others. Let us remember that we are inundated with a culture of appearances, of exteriors, of confused identities, of broken hearts. We can’t really control what’s “out there” but we can definitely call upon the Lord to change what’s “in here.”
Psalm 51:10; “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me…”
Amen.
(1) Ven. Fulton Sheen — The Seven Virtues (talk given in 1940)
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Precious words, of course His heart was saddened. We do need less psychologists and more confessionals, this would be the source of true healing for us all 🙏🏻