Saturday of the Twenty-Third Week in Ordinary Time
Our Gospel today comes from the end of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Plain,” St Luke’s version of the “Sermon on the Mount,” found in St Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus’ sermon can be considered the disciple’s handbook because in this important proclamation we hear Jesus teaching us the way to be obedient and faithful disciples, indeed calling us to become like him. Today let us ask our Lord for the grace to choose good and reject evil, that our lives would bear good fruit and that by our witness others would be attracted to Jesus. Let us also today consider the foundation upon which we are building our lives and ask ourselves if it is Christ’s Word and teaching or something of this world.
“Jesus said to his disciples: ‘A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit.’” The earliest Christians incorporated this image of fruit into their teaching of the “two ways” as a means of helping people understand right moral conduct. The Didache, an early Christian manual, dating from AD 70 – AD 150, presented the teaching of the Twelve Apostles to the early Church. It begins, “There are two ways: one of life and one of death – and there is a big difference between the two.”[1] We pursue the “way of life” as we seek, by God’s grace, to be trees that bear good fruit in keeping with the Gospel.
We have a wooded section behind our property. Front and center just beyond our backyard stands a lovely “Monkey Ball” (Osage Orange) tree. When we moved into our home three years ago, that tree appeared to be almost dead. My husband realized that a large invasive honeysuckle bush had surrounded the Monkey Ball tree and was choking it to death and poisoning its roots. He cut out the honeysuckle, and the Monkey Ball tree has gradually revived! This tree produced an unbelievable crop of monkey balls this year – each branch laden with fruit and dazzling vibrancy. It’s a wonder the tree can support the fruit, as each ball weighs over 1 pound! As I marvel at this tree and its fruitfulness, I pause to consider my own life. When others witness my life, is the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) evident? Conversely, what sins or dysfunction might be choking out the possibility of fruit-bearing? Noone could fail to observe the fruit on the Monkey Ball tree, that’s for sure! I pray the same is true in my life. Lord, help me.
Jesus also says to us, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I command? I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, listens to my words, and acts on them . . .” He goes on to show us that such a faithful person is like a man who builds his house on a firm foundation of rock. He contrasts that with a person who foolishly builds a house without being intentional to establish such a foundation. Again, Jesus presents us with the “two ways,” one leading to life and the other to death.
The faithful builder, a true disciple of Jesus, is a person who listens to his words and acts on them. I might ask myself today, am I a person who listens and acts, or a person who listens but does not act? Or even a person who fails to listen or act? We have a responsibility, as Catholic Christians, to be intentional about our faith formation. Jesus says such a person “comes to me.” We must approach him prayerfully and listen to the Word of God with receptivity and the desire to put it into practice. Let us pray and ask the Lord to help us live out the Word of God in our daily lives. We do well to seek out resources such as podcasts, books, articles, publications from the USCCB, online videos, Catholic radio, just to name a few – finding trustworthy voices to help us learn the Word and Church teaching so that we can apply it to our lives. If we’re not intentional about building a strong foundation in God’s Word and Church teaching, then by default we’re building it on something else, such as possessions, wealth, power, pleasure, politics, worldly ideology . . . As St Jerome famously observed, “Ignorance of the scripture is ignorance of Christ.”
Today, let us pray for the grace to be faithful fruit-bearers who seek day-by-day to establish a solid foundation on Christ. Faced with the “two ways,” let us choose life!
In the Body and Blood of Christ,
Elizabeth Wells
[1] “This is the Way of Life: 1. Love God, who made you. 2. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. Do not do anything to another person that you do not want to happen to you” (The Didache, 1).