“bear much fruit”
There is a Nigerian phrase, “It is the He in me” This is usually said when a compliment is given to a person. The person recognized that without Christ the good word, thought, or deed is nothing and thus says, “It is the He [Jesus] in me”. We cannot bear good fruit if we do not remain in Christ and if He does not remain in us.
For the Christian, there is only one work. The work of the Christian and the work of Christ is not separate. If a Christian, with good intention makes a pilgrimage, or does a work of mercy, the pilgrimage or work of mercy is not separate from the work of Christ. It is Christ that makes the pilgrimage with him, and Christ that does the work of mercy with Him. Just before the Great Amen during Mass, the priest prays the following as he elevates the chalice and host. “Through him, and with him, and in him, O God, almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory is yours, for ever and ever.”[i] This is the summary of the disciple: a life lived through, with and in Christ and done all for the honor and glory of God.
Are we saved by good works? We are saved by the work of Christ. Any work that Christ does is a good work, and there is no goodness outside of Christ. Therefore, if a work is good, it is of Christ. When we do a good work, it is not separate from the work of Christ, therefore, our work is salvific. This means that our work brings about the salvation of souls: ours and others. Any work that is not good is not of Christ and amounts to nothing. Our works are nothing without Christ. This thought should bring about a sincere humility that makes us long to be open and united to Christ. It is only when we are humble that we realize that we need Jesus, it is only then that we receive Him. “It seems to me that to be plunged into humility is to be plunged into You; for, living in You who are the Truth, I cannot fail to realize my nothingness. The humble soul is the chosen recipient, the vessel capable of receiving then, O Lord, that I may humble, and make me understand that the humble soul will never put You high enough or itself low enough.”[ii]
Just as we cannot do good work separate from Christ, we also can also not bear fruit separate from Christ. “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.”[iii] More fruit is grown when the days are longer, because there is more sunlight. The disciple, who is in the Light of Christ more, bears more fruit. “The light of Christ is an endless day that knows no night. Christ is this day, says the Apostle; such is the meaning of his words: Night is almost over; day is at hand. He tells us that night is almost over, not that it is about to fall. By this we are meant to understand that the coming of Christ’s light puts Satan’s darkness to flight, leaving no place for any shadow of sin. His everlasting radiance dispels the dark clouds of the past and checks the hidden growth of vice. The Son is that day to whom the day, which is the Father, communicates the mystery of his divinity…The celestial day is perpetually bright and shining with brilliant light; clouds can never darken its skies. In the same way, the light of Christ is eternally glowing with luminous radiance and can never be extinguished by the darkness of sin. This is why John the Evangelist says: The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never been able to overpower it.”[iv]
How can we identify a Christian? A Christian is the soul being perfected by the Grace of God and therefore can be identified or recognized by the perfections of the Holy Spirit, which are the fruits of the Holy Spirit. “The perfections of the Holy Spirit forms in us as the ‘first fruits’ of eternal glory. The tradition of the Church identifies twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit.”[v]
ACTIVITY – Fruit Game
Purchase four different types of fruit. You can buy 4 or 5 of each piece depending on how many volunteers you will have during the game. Also purchase a box of powdered donuts, this is also for the game. Form four teams of five people each. Set up four chairs facing the group and ask for the first four people (one from each team) to sit in the chair. The volunteers will be blind folded. Assign four people that are not on any of the teams to place fruit in the volunteer’s hands. After the volunteers have been blindfolded, tell them that a fruit will be placed in their hands. The fruit should be the same for each person. The first one to raise their hand and guess the fruit wins that round. After a volunteer choose correctly, move onto the next group of volunteers from each team. Place a different fruit in their hand. Repeat this for each fruit that you have. After all the fruits are gone, the last round will be a trick. The blindfolded volunteers will think they are going to guess a fruit. Instead of placing a fruit in their hands, the assistants will place a powered donut in their hands.
It is fairly easy to identify natural fruit, even when we are blindfolded. It is even easier to distinguish between a natural fruit and another object that is not fruit. Ask the group if they can name 12 fruits from the grocery store. Ask the group if they can name the 12 fruits of the Holy Spirit. Why is it easy to identify natural fruits, but not spiritual fruits? One reason is that we see natural fruits each day, we are accustomed to them. Are we around spiritual fruits each day? If we are, why don’t we recognize them?
What are the fruits of the Holy Spirit? The fruits of the Holy Spirit including Charity, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Generosity, Gentleness, Fidelity (Faith), Modesty, Self-Control and Chastity.[vi] There are supernatural works that, according to St. Paul, manifest the presence of the Holy Spirit. The one who performs them recognizes God’s presence by the happiness he experiences, and others the divine presence by witnessing these good works (Galatians 5:22-23). They are, in other words, identifiable effects of the Holy Spirit.[vii]
What do each of these look like in our life? How can we recognize them in the life of the disciple? It might be good to make a list of at least three examples of what these fruits look like.
Many of the fruits have a Link to Liturgy Lesson connected with them, so this lesson may also be used as a series. Simply use the links provided below to use this lesson as a series or retreat.
Charity – Charity is the power by which we, who have been loved first by God, can give ourselves to God so as to be united with him and can accept our neighbor for God’s sake an unconditionally and sincerely as we accept ourselves. [CCC 1822-1829, 1844] Jesus places love above all laws, without however abolishing the latter. Therefore St. Augustine rightly says, “Love, and do what you will.” Which is not at all as easy as it sounds. That is why charity, love, is the greatest virtue, the energy that inspires all the other virtues and fills them with divine life.[viii]
Search: Love God with all your soul
Joy – Joy is a lasting happiness. Many times we are asked if we are happy. We can only answer this question at that moment because happiness is temporal, it passes. Joy, however, is an eternal happiness. What is eternal happiness? Eternal happiness is seeing God and being taken up into God’s happiness. [CCC 1720-1724, 1729]. In God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit there is unending life, joy, and communion. To be taken up into it will be an incomprehensible, infinite happiness for us men. This happiness is the pure gift of God’s grace, for we men can neither bring it about ourselves nor comprehend it in its magnitude. God would like us to decide in favor of our happiness; we should choose God freely, love Him above all things, do good and avoid evil insofar as we are able.[ix]
Search: Beatitude: The desire for happiness
Peace – Peace is the consequence of justice and the sign of love put into action. Where there is peace, ‘every creature can come to rest in good order’ (Thomas Aquinas). Earthly peace is the image of the peace of Christ, who reconciled heaven and earth. Earthly peace is the image of the peace of Christ, who reconciled heaven and earth. [2304-2305] Peace is more than the absence of war, more than a carefully maintained balance of powers (‘balance of terror”). In a state of peace, people can live securely with their legitimately earned property and freely exchange goods with one another. In peace the dignity and the right of self-determination of individuals and of peoples are respected. In peace human coexistence is characterized by brotherly solidarity.[x]
Search: Peace
Patience – A form of the moral virtue of fortitude. It enables one to endure present evils without sadness or resentment in conformity with the will of God. Patience is mainly concerned with bearing the evils caused by another. The three grades of patience are: to bear difficulties without interior complaint, to use hardships to make progress in virtue, and even to desire the cross and afflictions out of love of God and accept them with spiritual joy.[xi]
Search: Patience is a Virtue
Kindness – One of the fruits of the Holy Spirit; the quality of understanding sympathy and concern for those in trouble or need. It is shown in affability of speech, generosity of conduct, and forgiveness of injuries sustained.[xii]
Search: Blessed are the Merciful
Goodness – The secular definition of goodness is the state or quality of being good. There is only one that is good, that is God. Goodness is a share in the goodness of God (the qualities of God); an imitation of Christ.
Search: Is it a "good" or a "God"?
Generosity – is a readiness and willingness to give to others, without anything in return. This is also called almsgiving.
Search: Gifts and Goods
Gentleness – is similar to the beatitude of meekness. A person who in not severe or violent, and practices moderation.
Search: The Beatitudes: Part I
Faithfulness / Fidelity (Faith) – Constancy in allegiance to God or the things of God…implicit in loyalty is strong affection based on firm conviction that the object of one’s fidelity deserves the allegiance.
Search: Striving for Faithfulness
Modesty – The virtue that moderates all the internal and external movements and appearance of a person according to his or her endowments, possessions, and station in life. Four virtues are commonly included under modesty: humility, studiousness, and two kinds of external modesty, namely in dress and general behavior. Humility is the ground of modesty in that it curbs the inordinate desire for personal excellence and inclines one to recognize his or her own worth in this true light. Studiousness moderates the desire and pursuit of truth in accordance with faith and right reason. Its contrary vices are curiosity, which is an excessive desire for knowledge, and negligence, which is remissness in acquiring knowledge that should be had for one’s age and position in life. Modesty in dress and bodily adornments inclines a person to avoid not only whatever is offensive to others but whatever is not necessary. Modesty in bodily behavior directs a person to observe proper decorum in bodily movements, according to the dictum of St. Augustine, “In all your movements let nothing be evident that would offend the eyes of another.”[xiii]
Search: Lust (Part I and Part II)
Search: 12 Steps of Humility
Self-Control – The act, power, or habit of having one’s desires under the control of the will, enlightened by right reason and faith.[xiv]
Search: Self Control
Chastity – The virtue by which a person who is capable of passion deliberately and resolutely reserves his erotic desires for love and resists the temptation to find lewd images in the media or to use others as a means of achieving his own satisfaction.[xv]
Search: Living the Life of Purity
[i] The Roman Missal
[ii] Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity
[iii] Luke 6:43-44
[iv] Saint Maximus of Turin; Office of Readings; Firth Sunday of Easter
[v] Catechism of the Catholic Church – Glossary
[vi] Gal. 5:22-23
[vii] Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.;Modern Catholic Dictionary
[viii] YouCat (Youth Catechism); 309
[ix] YouCat (Youth Catechism); 285
[x] YouCat (Youth Catechism); 395
[xi] Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.;Modern Catholic Dictionary
[xii] Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.;Modern Catholic Dictionary
[xiii] Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.;Modern Catholic Dictionary
[xiv] Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.;Modern Catholic Dictionary
[xv] YouCat (Youth Catechism); page 220