THE REIGN FRUITS

Speak right; See bright; and Settle for the Light

February 27, 2022: 8th Sunday in Ordinary time

Ecclesiasticus 27: 5-8; 1 Corinthians 15: 54-58; Luke 6: 39-45 

Every tree can be told by its own fruit: people do not pick figs from thorns, nor grapes from brambles, says Jesus today in his parable. A strong imagery to say, we are known by our fruits - by our words, by our actions and by the choices we make. If we are to be recognised as people of God, it cannot be done by our self-proclamation, nor our shouting out loud to all who are around. It has to be done, by manifesting it in our lives, in our practical lives. Without our clamouring establishment of the fact, we could go about quietly living our daily lives, and the people will automatically know the truth. Their might be opposition from some sides, not all admiration; worse still there may be some who would vow to destroy you - for stones are strewn at a tree with fruits! The Word today lists a few fruits that we need to grow, to manifest that we belong to the Reign - these we can call the Reign Fruits in a person. 

The first fruit is to Speak Right: right words at the right time, is a splendid gift from the Spirit. To speak right is, to speak at the right moment, to speak the right words and to speak the right volume. Many of our troubles arise from words spoken at the wrong time... either in fury or in confusion or in excitement. Once spoken, there is no use regretting them. It is a virtue at times to choose not to speak and it could be sin at times not to speak! However, not all of us have the gift of choosing the right word to speak, when we decide to. It comes from a discerned mind and a serene spirit, which are faculties to be trained in prayer and meditaton. Apart from the choice to speak, and the choice of the words, the decision as to how much to speak is crucial too! We need to speak the right volume, nothing more and nothing less. We can learn from our Blessed Mother and St. Joseph who give us a great example in their lives. 

The second fruit is to See bright: to see is not an ordinary gift! It is truly a skill to be developed with the grace of the Spirit to see oneself, to see the other and to see the road to salvation. Seeing oneself and observing the things within me that could be blocking my vision of life, is a gift that we need to pray for. We could so filled with ourselves that we may fail to notice something so obviously wrong with us. As they say, with the right diagnosis three fourth of the treatment is well done. So is it, even in our Spiritual lives. If it is so about ourselves, how true it could be about seeing the other. The danger is, seeing the other is so easy that most of the time we make mistakes. We do not really see what is there, but we end up seeing what we want to see. We have prejudices, biases and prior experiences which hinder us from seeing the facts. When we are able to see ourselves clearly and with the same objectivity, see the other, together we can see the way to salvation, the way to maturity, the way to fullness of life. 

The third fruit considered here, is spirit to settle for nothing less than the Light that comes from the Lord, from the Risen Lord. The call for attention here is to evaluate what we are ready to settle for - merely fulfilment of the basic needs, possession of material good, popularity among those around, power of dominating the other...are these enough to settle for? The Word says, we cannot settle for anything less than the Light itself, the eternal light that is ready to shine upon us...because we are the Reign people, who constantly seek that eternity, in every bit of our experience. Our experiences, small or big, good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant, always have an indication towards something we need to learn and grasp in our lives. Above all, they indicate the presence of the Divine and the need for us to constantly strive towards that Divine. When we do that, we are discouraged by nothing, threatened by nothing or lured by nothing. We keep working towards that Light that the Lord has prepared for us and in Lordàs own time the light will shine on us, confirming that we are indeed Reign people. 

These Reign fruits are fruits that will set us aside, as witnesses to the people of these times and of this world - so that, in seeing us, they can give praise to the Lord!