Faith to fruit

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today provide some nourishment as we consider what fruit may be produced from our faith. The letter to the Ephesians directs our attention to the gifts we have received from God. Chas Kestermeier, S.J. challenges us to find our particular role in the Church. The maturity which Friar Jude Winkler comments we are called to develop with the charisms given us by the Spirit is one which takes us deeper than the speech of modern spiritual gurus to participation in building a community which is resonant with the experience of thousands of years of living with attention to the revelation of the Holy Spirit. In the time when the Gospel of Luke was written, the end time marked by Jesus return was thought to be close. Anxiety about the truth in the Gospel today that our personal end time on earth can come unexpectedly is balance with the parable Jesus tells of the decision of the landowner to allow the gardener to fertilize and cultivate the barren fig tree so that it may produce the fruit required in the next year. Our gifts will produce the fruit as we open ourselves to being fertilized and cultivated in our faith.