Fruits of the Spirit
In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such, there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ [Jesus] have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-25
Those first two words caught my eye right away - “in contrast”. In contrast to what? Well, if you read Galatians 5:19-21 you can see.
Now the works of the flesh are obvious: immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Ouch, that pericope ends on a very harsh note. Let’s not going focus on the harsh notes here, I just wanted to let you know how this list came out; what the Bible tells us the Fruits of the Spirit are useful to fight against.
So that’s that - the fruits of the spirit are in contrast to the works of the flesh and they can help us abolish them and attain what everyone’s ultimate goal should be - Heaven. The Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it far more eloquently than I ever could:
CCC 1832 The fruits of the Spirit are perfections that the Holy Spirit forms in us as the first fruits of eternal glory. The tradition of the Church lists twelve of them: "charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, chastity."
We know that any plant, left completely unattended will not bear good fruit. The apple trees in my backyard will attest to that. I don’t care for them much, don’t prune them, fertilize them or tend to them at all. They produce the ugliest, smallest most bitter apples ever. Not good fruit. In contrast, the blueberry bush in my front yard is fertilized, watered and covered so the birds aren’t the ones who enjoy the fruits. It produces a lot of blueberries. Very good fruit. How do we tend to our fruits of the spirit?
On my journey to the diaconate Paul’s letter to Timothy gives me a great passage that ties in nicely with some of the fruits of the spirit:
Similarly, deacons must be dignified, not deceitful, not addicted to drink, not greedy for sordid gain, holding fast to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. Moreover, they should be tested first; then, if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons. 1 Timothy 3:8-10
We should test ourselves, ask ourselves how does our fruit orchard look? Is it healthy and well pruned or overrun with weeds, bugs, and unhealthy fruit trees? That’s what I’ve done here, looked at how my fruits are doing and where they need pruning and fertilizing.
Charity/Love are one and the same. So I have to examine how I love. It’s easy to love the ones I’m close to, my family members but do I also love my enemies? Those who persecute me? That guy at work who got a promotion and I didn’t, do I love him? That person who cut me off on the highway, I must love them as well! The fruit tree of love needs some pruning in my orchard that’s for sure.
Joy...there’s a good one. A priest once told me that your stuff in life will make you happy but it will break and stop working and there goes your happiness. Only knowing Jesus can give you a joy that can’t be taken away from you.
Saint Augustine sums up joy nicely:
There is a joy which is not given to the ungodly, but to those who love Thee for Thine own sake, whose joy Thou Thyself art. And this is the happy life, to rejoice to Thee, of Thee, for Thee; this it is, and there is no other.
I need to tend to the fruit of joy for sure!
Often times I have peace but what do I allow to take that away from me? A harsh word? Seeing somebody who had wronged me in the past. If that’s true then I need to tend to the fruit of peace. My favorite place to tend to the fruit of peace is adoration. It’s so awesome to bask in the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and feel His presence and peace wash over me. Adoration is good fertilizer for the fruit of peace!
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7
Patience, ahh yes patience. That is one of the most bitter fruits I have. When I applied to the diaconate program I had to take a psych exam and then meet with a Deacon, who is also a psychiatrist, to go over my test results. His first question to me was how long had I been employed at MEDITECH. When I told him 25 years he was surprised and in that gentle psychiatrist voice said: “hmmm, really?”. Well, since I am impatient I asked him to cut to the chase, something is clearly amiss and he said I scored very high in the “anger department”, so much so in fact that somebody with my score usually would only last five years at a job, being fired each time. We laughed and decided it was an anomaly (my wife Allison thought otherwise) but I realized I have work to do, I have to tend to the fruit tree of patience and remove the anger from it.
Kindness is a good one for me; mostly. That fruit tree might look fairly healthy as people usually say I’m kind but what are the thoughts I think while I help them? Am I wishing I was out fishing instead because it’s such a nice day? Is my fruit looking good outwardly but infested by a few worms on the inside? Maybe I need some bug spray for this fruit tree.
Generosity I think I do ok with. I earn most of the money and my wife Allison is generous with it and I’m ok with that. I need to keep evaluating how generous I am with my time, however. If I don’t keep checking on that then that fruit may go sour. This is a big part of the journey towards the diaconate, I need to give more time, and give it lovingly to the Church and my fellow man.
Faithfulness I think is indeed my best fruit! I’ve been at the same job for 29 years, married to the same woman for 28 years, almost 29. Go to church religiously! When God called us to adoption I first said no way but ultimately listened to God’s call. I am in the process of answering the call to the diaconate and, God willing, will be ordained May 18th, 2019. I’m still learning to trust, which is a big part of faithfulness but the Psalms give me an answer to that:
In the morning let me hear of your mercy, for in you I trust. Show me the path I should walk, for I entrust my life to you. Psalm 143:8
The fruit of faithfulness is good, it isn’t perfect but I keep tending to it and nurturing it and it is growing well!
Gentleness I do ok with as well but still, need to cultivate!
2 Timothy 2: 24-25: A slave of the Lord should not quarrel, but should be gentle with everyone, able to teach, tolerant, correcting opponents with kindness. It may be that God will grant them repentance that leads to knowledge of the truth.
This is where my cultivation needs to happen, I tend to enjoy correcting my opponents, maybe enjoy it too much, especially when I “know” I am right. It’s those times where I fail to include that gentleness part.
Self-control - my doctor once told me I was obese at my checkup, I’m too fat a fruit so to speak! I am working on my self-control, especially when it comes to food. I can’t seem to resist eating food I know I should be resisting and I’m horrible at fasting. A lot of junk food is brought in to work, leftover cookies, cupcakes and the like. I must avoid these temptations and show more self-control here! This fruit indeed needs some pruning, cultivating and caring for!
The great part about these fruits is to get better at them all you need to do is to pray for them. If you’ve been baptized and confirmed you have what you need, you just might not know it yet so get down on your knees and pray for them. Ask God to keep you as fertile soil for all of these fruits, pray to Mary so as not to become a desert land, barren of any of these fruits. Ask and you will receive, knock and the door will be opened. And then ask again!!
“Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So by their fruits, you will know them.” Matthew 7:17-20
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