Chosen to Bear Fruit

“It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.”

John 15:16

At the Last Supper Jesus gave to the disciples a new commandment, the mandatum, to love one another as He has loved them. And how has Jesus loved them? Completely, fully, unconditionally, and unreservedly. We are called to love likewise. Although we cannot truly in the same way Jesus did because of our human nature, we can strive to do so, and we have hope that we can because it was the Lord who has appointed us to do so. We have been chosen, but will we accept it?

Brothers and sisters, we have been chosen. We were created in the image and likeness of God. We were created in love, for love. The Father has called us by name and the Lord has chosen us, each one of us, to be His hands and feet here on earth. We have been asked to bear fruit, fruit that will remain. The only things that truly remain are that which are eternal, that which are from God. What is this fruit then that remains? His love. His very life, that which He gave up so that we might live and die no more. Jesus assumed our humanity so that we might come to share in His divinity. He came so that we might have life eternal, life that remains. And the life (essence and nature) of God is love. To live a Christian life is to live in love, in love with God, and in love for others.

We have been called and appointed by the Lord but we must choose to answer the call. We must choose to love. We must choose to remain in God and in His love. The only way we can truly live out a life of love is if we remain in Christ. Only when we graft ourselves onto Jesus will we be able to bear any fruit. Only when we allow ourselves to be loved will we be able to love others. We cannot bear fruit if we have not first been planted. Furthermore, we cannot bear fruit that remains unless we are pruned. Through all this the Lord will be with us. He will give us the graces we need to do so. However, we must remain in Him and with Him, the source of our life and love. What seems impossible for us to accomplish will be possible if we remain in the One who has chosen us and appointed us because for nothing is impossible for Him who has called us.

Fruit of the Spirit

“Let us love not in word or speech
but in deed and truth.”

1 John 3:18

Jesus speaks to the intimate relationship that exists between Him and His followers using the imagery of vine and branches. Just as the branches can only exist and grow only if they remain grafted onto the vine, so too, the extent to which the followers of Christ are true followers depend on their dependence on the Lord. The vine is the source of life for the branches. Jesus ought to be the source of our life and all that we do, but is He? How do we know? The answer may lie in the fruit that we bear.

St. John encourages us to not simply love with our words; in other words, do not just pay lip service. We ought not to simply say, “I love the Lord” or “I love my brothers and sisters,” but rather to show it. We cannot say “I love the Lord” and do things that do not show this. We cannot say we love the Lord and deny life to the unborn or neglect the poor and the hungry. We cannot love the Lord and hate our neighbor. We cannot profess to know the Lord when we do not pray or spend time with Him. The fruit of our “love” will show if our live is true. The fruit in our lives will show whether we are grafted onto the True Vine that is Christ or the vine of the world.

We must live in the Truth and love with our whole beings, feeding the poor, clothing the naked, instructing the ignorant, visiting the imprisoned, and caring for orphans and widows. The Lord took on our human flesh so that we might share in His divinity, partaking in the communal life of the Trinity, partaking in love eternal.

Let us today examine our lives and reflect on the kinds of fruit we have borne. Do they reflect the Father’s love? Do they reflect our own ambitions? If we truly remain in the Lord, the Spirit will dwell within us, and the fruit we bear will lead us to God. The fruit of the Spirit is love and peace. Let us choose to remain in the Lord today and to be grafted onto to Christ so that all that we think, say, and do might reveal to ourselves and others the love that moved the Lord to the Cross.

Click below the watch this week’s reflection.

Do You Know the Lord?

“I am the good shepherd,
and I know mine and mine know me,
just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.”

John 10:14-15a

On the Fourth Sunday of Easter the Church celebrates “Good Shepherd Sunday,” because we hear the Gospel in which the Lord says He is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep. There exists between the shepherd and the sheep a unique bond and relationship. The sheep relies entirely on the shepherd. They know the shepherd will be there to protect them. The shepherd loves his sheep. As Christians, we are the sheep of the flock of the Good Shepherd. Do we know Him?

Jesus says that He knows His [sheep] and they know Him, but do we really know Him? Do we really know the voice of the Good Shepherd? Perhaps the more important question is do we see ourselves as the sheep of the Good Shepherd? Only when we see ourselves as sheep will we acknowledge the need for a shepherd. As Christians we are called to follow the Lord, to walk in His footsteps, and to live out our lives so that others might come to encounter Him in us. We must bear the face of Christ in our lives. We must remember that who we are and who we are called to be is rooted in Jesus, the Christ, the Good Shepherd. How well do our lives reflect Jesus Christ?

In order to follow the Good Shepherd we must learn to hear His voice. There are many voices that call out to us in our daily lives — the voice of God, our own voice, the voices of those whom we love, the voices that lead us to sin. In today’s world the voices that tell us to seek what gives us pleasure and to do what we please is quite loud, drowning out not just the voice of reason in our hearts, but also the Voice of the Good Shepherd that seeks to bring us peace. When we attune our hearts to the frequency of this world and its fleeting pleasures, we forget who we are, that we are the sheep of the One who cries out to us.

The voice of the Good Shepherd and the voice of the world do not exist on the same wavelength. We must choose to turn the dial to the frequency that speaks truth and love and peace. Only then will we be able to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd. When we finally hear His voice, we will be able to know Him more and more intimately. When we hear His Voice, we will be led to His Word; when we come to read His Word, we will come to know Him, and when we know Him, He will lead us to His heart, which beats for love of us. The Good Shepherd calls out to you. He knows you. Do you know Him?

Click below to watch this week’s reflection.