Jesus is the fruit of the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Out of this marvellous relationship between God and Mary, the Holy Spirit produced His fruit in the Incarnation of the Word of God, who became flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. So out of this spiritual marriage of the Holy Spirit with Mary, She became the tree of life, whose fruit is the food for our souls. We are called to imitate Mary in order to bear good fruit, consistent with our repentance.
We are compared to trees on many occasions, in order to understand the purpose of our existence which is to be fruitful. John the Baptist came preaching repentance and with Him the threat that the axe is ready: every tree that does not bear fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. [Matthew 3:10] The Lord confirms that in [Matthew 7:19].
Our Blessed Lord manifested His anger at the fruitless fig tree, which dried out and died after his curse.[Matthew 21:19] , Jesus is the Vine and we are the branches, those who cut themselves off the vine by not abiding in Him, are cut off, they die and are thrown into the fire.[John 15:6]
The Lord says that the Kingdom of Heaven will be given to those who produce the good fruits of the Kingdom [Matthew 21:43], He also says that prophets will be known by their fruits [Matthew 7:16]. So the spiritual fruits that we produce are caused by the influence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, they are the fruits of Salvation through the power of the Holy Spirit and our faith in Him.[2 Thessalonians 2:13]
So according to the tradition of the Church the fruits of the Holy Spirit are: "charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control and chastity." [Galatians 5:22-23] These fruits are produced in our souls by our yielding to the gentle persuasions of the Holy Spirit.
In order to produce the fruits of the Spirit, we must be rooted on the firm soil of our faith, fertilised with the nourishment of the sacraments and devotions, watered with the Living Water of the Holy Spirit and pruned by our sufferings and trials. It is called the fruit of the Spirit, not so much our fruit, because it is produced directly by the Holy Spirit, so that we should not become proud. We must allow the Spirit of God to lead us to holiness, the Master Builder will construct a spiritual house in us for His pleasure and Glory. [Psalm 127- (126 D.Rh) ]
It is for the Glory of God the Father that we become the fruitful disciples of Our Lord Jesus Christ [John 15:18]
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Proverbs 8:19
For my fruit is better than gold and the precious stone, and my blossoms than choice silver.
Proverbs 11:30
The fruit of the just man is a tree of life: and he that gaineth souls, is wise.
Jeremiah 17:7-8
7 Blessed be the man that trusteth in the Lord, and the Lord shall be his confidence.
8 And he shall be as a tree that is planted by the waters, that spreadeth out its roots towards moisture: and it shall not fear when the heat cometh. And the leaf thereof shall be green, and in the time of drought it shall not be solicitous, neither shall it cease at any time to bring forth fruit.
Ezekiel 47:12
And by the torrent on the banks thereof on both sides shall grow all trees that bear fruit: their leaf shall not fall off, and their fruit shall not fail: every month shall they bring forth first fruits, because the waters thereof shall issue out of the sanctuary: and the fruits thereof shall be for food, and the leaves thereof for medicine.
Charity | Joy | Peace | Patience | Kindness | Goodness
Generosity | Gentleness | Faithfulness | Modesty
Self-control | Chastity
Love finds its perfection in Charity, since we love God but we don't see Him so we can prove to Him our Love by loving others. The new commandment of Our Lord is "Love one another as I have loved you" that manifestation of Love compels the soul to do acts of charity for others. God is easily found in the needs of the poor, in the marginalised, the oppressed, the persecuted, the lonely, the outcast, those who suffer and all those who are last. No wonder the Lord has said that the last will be the first. On the day of Judgement, the Lord will reward us according to the way we treated our brothers and sisters, because in the same way we indeed treated our Lord.[Matthew 25:34-40]
Our Lady was a living model of Charity, as soon as She was filled with the Holy Spirit, She felt the need to go out of her way to help her cousin Elizabeth.
St. Paul recommends that we rejoice in the Lord always, [Philippians 4:4] and again He says rejoice. Joy is a gift to keep even in the middle of our trials and sufferings, because joy is the anticipation of the greater gift of eternal bliss.
We have good times when we naturally rejoice, but this joy is perfected when we appreciate that it comes from God and we thank Him. Whenever we suffer, we must be also thankful for the crosses we are receiving and rejoice spiritually because the reward for our crosses will be our crowns.
Do we thank God for all the joys we receive? Do we take it all for granted or do we realise that God is the source of our joy?
Peace is the sign of God's Presence in our lives. Peace is the fruit of the reconciliation between God and man through the death of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The first words that the Lord pronounced after His resurrection were "Peace be with you" [John 20:19], the same words He repeated again before saying to the apostles "Receive the Holy Spirit"
With the gift of Peace, the Apostles then received the breath of the resurrected Lord and the power to forgive sins, which continues in the sacrament of Penance. As we are reconciled with God in this holy sacrament we are healed of the wounds of our sins and we receive God's peace, fruit of our reconciliation.
The Peace that we receive from the Lord is different to the peace of this world, it is the peace of the soul finding itself pure before God.
With this holy attitude, a person is prepared to deal with all the different situations and persons that otherwise would cause annoyance or distress. Being patient means understanding the individuality of other people and adjusting to their needs, knowing that God has sent them into our lives for a purpose, perhaps to make us humble or to make us realise how weak we are.
We can not change events that have already taken place, it is too late to be impatient as if by our lack of virtue we would change anything at all. Impatience can only make things worse. As a matter of fact, impatience leads to anger, which leads to hatred, which uncontrolled can lead to murder. This is why we must produce this fruit of the Holy Spirit which is part of the very important foundations for holiness.
The Patriarch Job was an excellent example of this holy virtue of Patience, He was put to the test by the Lord who allowed satan to tempt Him. One day while he was at home he received different messengers telling him the bad news that He had lost all his cattle, that they had killed his servants and that the roof of the house where his seven daughters and three sons were staying had collapsed killing them all. This is how He responded to this situation:
[Job 1:20-22] 20 Then Job rose up, and rent his garments, and having shaven his head fell down upon the ground and worshipped,
21 And said: Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: as it hath pleased the Lord so is it done: blessed be the name of the Lord.
22 In all these things Job sinned not by his lips, nor spoke he any foolish thing against God.
Many times we feel down but we are cheered up by the kindness of others. This beautiful disposition of the soul makes people very charmy and useful to others, it is not the artificial smile that makes us welcome, but the sincere disposition of a good heart.
For whosoever shall give you to drink a cup of water in my name, because you belong to Christ: amen I say to you, he shall not lose his reward. [Mark 9:40 - 41]
God is the source of all goodness, He is the giver of all gifts, He wants us to imitate Him.
Imitation of Christ involves being good, being a reflection of Christ in our lives to others. Our behaviour reflects how we are keeping the commandments.
The first three commandments teach to love God, to respect His Holy Name and to keep holy the Sabbath day which for us Catholics is Sunday.
The last seven commandments refer to the way we must treat others. We must be good to our parents, we must protect our lives, the lives of the unborn and the lives of others because God is Life and life is good. We must respect our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit avoiding all corruption and impurity, we must respect our neighbour's goods, we must respect our neighbour's reputation, and we must respect our neighbour's wife.
To love is to give. God loves us and He gives us everything. There is no greater friend than He who is prepared to lay down his life for another.[John 15:13] It is indeed a gift to be generous, because it takes a lot to decide not to keep what is rightly ours to give it to another, specially to a stranger.
When we give we truly deny ourselves, as the Lord has requested. Generosity must be done in silence in order to merit Grace from God and not merely the thanksgiving of men. It is very easy to be generous to our relatives or friends but that is not generosity since we will be repaid for that with friendship, thanksgiving and praise. Generosity must extend to the poor and the needy, it is a quest for justice as if we have the work of God to provide for those who don't have.
[Luke 14:13]
13 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind;
14 And thou shalt be blessed, because they have not wherewith to make thee recompense: for recompense shall be made thee at the resurrection of the just.
For whosoever shall give you to drink a cup of water in my name, because you belong to Christ: amen I say to you, he shall not lose his reward. [Mark 9:40 - 41]
The Holy Spirit is a gentle Spirit that works very smoothly directing us to do what is pleasing to God. Under His action we can be meek and humble in everything we do; there is no violence nor corruption in a soul depending on the gentleness of the Spirit of God.
Our Lady is the perfect model of gentleness, her human actions had a touch of the divine because She is the spouse of the Holy Spirit.
We are the Church, the bride of Christ and we must bear resemblance to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the bride of the Holy Spirit. Through the action of the Holy Spirit we must become Immaculate in order to appear as virgins before the bridegroom on the day of the great marriage of the Lamb. [Revelation 19:7]
God is infinitely surrounded by His faithfulness. He has committed himself to His creation, first by creating it, then by redeeming it through Christ our Lord and then by sanctifying it through the Holy Spirit.
The work of God is to believe in the one whom He has sent, namely our Lord Jesus Christ [John 6:29], by being faithful to Jesus we remain in Him and He remains in us, we become witnesses of the way, the truth and the life.
Our Loyalty to Christ involves becoming his disciples and doing the same works that He did; we must remain faithful not only to his teachings but to the Church that He founded on Peter the rock.
We must remain faithful to the teachings of our Church, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. [1 Timothy 3:15]. We must walk in the path of truth if we are to remain faithful to God.
Jesus Christ the King of Kings, the ruler of the universe was born in a very poor cave, the son of very poor parents and surrounded by poverty. Mary our Mother replied to the angel that bore the good news of the coming of the Messiah: I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word. By her modest response, She didn't become proud of such gift, she actually never told Joseph that She was to be the mother of the Son of God, She kept it to herself risking to be divorced publicly since She was a virgin. Joseph found out in a dream through the message of an angel that Mary had conceived the Saviour of the world through the action of the Holy Spirit.
Modesty is an essential base for humility, it may appear mediocre in the eyes of man but not in the eyes of God. By this holy fruit of the Holy Spirit one learns to be contented with what is just required, one doesn't harbour any ambitions, nor take pride in any achievements since they appear commonplace.
God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble [James 4:6], therefore we must conduct our lives with humility, not claiming any credit for ourselves, but giving all credit and thanksgiving to God and accepting His Holy Will.
Man must become the master of his body, his body must not master him. The carnal man despises the Holy Spirit and doesn't exercise self-control.
By self control we must overcome all the passions of the flesh, since he who produces the fruits of the Holy Spirit belongs to Christ and has crucified the flesh with all its passions.[Galatians 5:24]
One good way to overcome the flesh is fasting and prayer, by overcoming the desires of the body for food, the soul learns to be deprived by the authority of the will and the result is self-control.
Couples can agree to exercise self-control only for set periods of time, say during lent, during holy days of obligation or Fridays as an act of penance, but always remembering that they must not deprive each other of their conjugal rights. The husband's body belongs to the wife and the wife's body belongs to the husband, otherwise satan may lead each other to lose self-control.[1 Corinthians 7:3-5]
The union between a man and a woman is sacred, it is bound in the sacrament of matrimony. Two become one flesh, therefore what God has joined together, let no man separate.[Matthew 19:6]. God hates divorce [Malachi 2:16]
In the same manner an unmarried couple is not consecrated to God, they are committing adultery, they are parading their wickedness, they are living an illegal relationship.
The sexual relationship between husband and wife is a gift from God, it is the binding expression of the great unitive value of love. It is given as a gift from God, primarily for the transmission of life, and secondarily for the joy of the couple. The man and the woman should treat their bodies with due respect, remembering that they are temples of the Holy Spirit [1 Corinthians 6:19]. Lust is a disorderly passion that can creep into the relationship of the couple, therefore it is advisable that they practice chastity during certain monthly periods, they should also agree not to do it on holy days, perhaps Fridays in honour of Our Lord's passion or to practice whatever method of controlling passions within marriage. The pure purpose of marriage should be to love one another, to pro-create children for God and to maintain a pure relationship of fidelity and love.
People should not get married based on physical attraction only, they must understand each other and genuinely be willing to love one another for life.
Sex before marriage or outside marriage is adultery, masturbation is also a sin because it is either inciting the body to commit adultery or denying the other partner what belongs to their common joy. The chastity of the youth is equal to the purity of the children and is most precious in the eyes of God.
Virginity is the most excellent gift that the couple can offer to one another on their honey moon, it proves to them that they were truly made for one another.
Unfortunately these values have been lost nowadays, there are so many false teachings and so much bad example on television and the media; what can we say to our children? We are responsible before God for their conduct, because if we don't alert them to these dangers of unchastity and impurity, we will be held guilty for our negligence.
Homosexuality is a totally perverted expression of sexuality. It is a terrible abomination before the eyes of God, the man or woman engaged in this conduct is fighting against God's Will Who has made woman for man and man for woman [Genesis 2:24].
This sin caused the chastisement of Sodom and Gomorrah, because the Lord forbids a man to lay down with another man, or a woman with another woman [Leviticus 18:22-28]
Thank you and God bless you. Very timely for me, I am going through a profound repentence— many little sins, and a few big ones that I have been blind to for a long time were made clear to me— yesterday God opened my eyes and let me see the true extent of my own depravity and the depravity of the world. I thought I was doing well, but apart from His grace I am a wretched sinner. I am grateful for His grace and mercy, to help me to turn even more strongly from all that is evil so that I can enjoy the peace and grace that comes from being close to Him.