SPIRITUAL FRUITFULNESS
The Christian life is a life of spiritual growth and spiritual fruitfulness through the action of the Holy Spirit. It is a life of grace, faith and mercy. Though with our effort and cooperation with God´s grace through sacramental and prayerful life.
It is critical to note that nothing, absolutely nothing we do or realize that is due to our merit. It is all favour or grace of God. When it comes to the Christian spiritual life, the principle there is that: Man is nothing, God is all.”
This life of grace is to individual Christian and the Church in general. Spiritual growth and fruitfulness pertain to the Christian Church and the Christian faithful. We are called to bear testimony to God in Christ Jesus through the Holy Spirit.
The life of God is active not only in the Church and in Christian life, but also our human life. Therefore, we should bear fruits in abundance.
OUR THEME
In today’s readings draw our attention to the mysterious miracle of growth and fruitfulness in the Christian Church and life. The indisputable fact is that God is the author, source and finisher of the Spiritual Life. Either, in the Church, or Christian life, as well as the human life.
The readings focus on the origin, growth and development of spiritual life in us (Kingdom of God: the Church) and our human lives (as Christian). It is birth with humble beginnings that slowly and graciously grow into a formidable entity.
FIRST READING: EZEKIEL 17:22-24
Figuratively, the births, growth and developments are slow, gracious, and mysterious, guided by the power of the Holy Spirit. The God who always acts in the of his people to bring about fruitfulness in our spiritual and human life.
One fact is clear in the first reading of today, that is, it is the Lord who plants and grows the spiritual life that brings about spiritual fruitfulness in the Church or us. He is not an experimental God but a provisional God who raises the low and humbles the high. He makes the impossible possible through his divine will.
The prophecy of Ezekiel is also an assurance of the faithfulness of God to his words and promises. Hence, he declares “I the Lord have spoken; I will accomplish it.”
Conscious of the fact the life: both human and spiritual is a grace. The Psalmist in Psalm 92 invites us to be grateful to God: “Lord, it is good to give thanks to you”. Those who are planted in the Lord, his kindness, faithfulness, goodness and graciousness will always flourish in their lives.
SECOND READING: 2 CORINTHIANS 5:6-10
Paul’s boundless confidence in God, despite setbacks and opposition, is one of whom live by faith. For Paul, spiritual and human life is full of difficulties and dilemmas. However, they are moments of growth and fruitfulness leading to a transformation in us, and Christian life and the Church.
These are essential thoughts of St Paul about the Christian spiritual life:
The spiritual life is live with the earthly body. Hence, the body is not be viewed as something negative like how Greek and Roman thoughts despised the human body. For a Christian, the body is the “Temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) which should be used to serve and worship God.
Consequently, the body, though a temporary dwelling place of the soul or spirit of God. It does not seek “Nirvana with the peace of extinction” or “look for absorption in the divine” or look for the freedom of a disembodied spirit.”
The body is transformed into a glorious body: a spiritual body through salvation in the resurrection experience of Jesus Christ. Hence, in the spiritual body, God can be continuously served and adore in the heavenly places.
For all his yearning for the life to come, Paul does not despise this life. The reason is that even here and now we possess the Holy Spirit of God, and the Holy Spirit is the “arrabon.” The word “arrabon” means, “a foretaste of what is to come.”
It is Paul’s conviction that already the Christian can enjoy the foretaste of the life everlasting. It is given to the Christian to be a citizen of two worlds. We believe the Church offers a foretaste of heaven when we join the Holy Spirit’s work of reconciliation in our broken and divided world.
Even when Paul was thinking of the life to come, he never forgot that we are on the way not only to glory but also to judgment. The note of sternness for Paul is that “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.”
Additionally, our judgment will be based on what we have done with our body whether good or evil. The central message for all is to strive toward spiritual fruitfulness to be eternal with God.
THE GOSPEL: MARK 4:26-34
In a parable, Jesus notes the mysterious and gracious miracle of growth in life both spiritually and humanly as well as its fruitfulness. Five lessons we learn from the parable of the Growing Seed
- The primary focus of Christ is the kingdom of God plant in us.
- We should have a strong desire for the Kingdom of God. That is making the topmost priority of our lives.
- It is God who gives the increase, and the growth and sustainability of the Kingdom in us. It is all grace.
- God´s plan of salvation has different stages and it is slow, gradual and steady to its fulfilment.
- Christ will gather his saints when he returns here on the earth. The harvest time of the Kingdom is a moment of judgment for eternal rewards or punishment.
This is the only parable that Mark alone relates to us. The Kingdom of God means the reign of God; it means the day when God’s Will will be done as perfectly on earth as it is in heaven. That is the spiritual goal of God for the whole universe. Life is a gift from God meant to be used profitably to bear spiritual fruitfulness in the service of God and others.
This parable is short but it is filled with unmistakable truths about God´s Kingdom: the Church and its subjects: the Christians.
It tells us of the helplessness of man. Man is not a creator but he can discover, rearrange, or develop things but cannot create anything. The secret of life and its growth is only God´s. He is the force, power and will behind all things.
It tells us something about the Kingdom. It is a notable fact that Jesus so often uses illustrations from the growth of nature to describe the coming of the Kingdom of God. This is because nature’s growth is something imperceptible, constant and inevitable. So too, is God´s kingdom manifested in us and his Church through his grace.
It tells us that there is a consummation of all things. There is a day when the harvest season will come. Inevitably, when the harvest time comes two things happen-the good fruit is gathered in, and the weeds and the tares are destroyed. Importantly, it is good to note that harvest and judgment go hand in hand.
While we await the growth and development of the kingdom and its fruitfulness in harvest and judgment. We should summon patience, hope and preparedness. To not live in worries, discouragement or be caught unaware of God´s in our life.
It tells us about how the seed of God´s grace in us and the Church (the kingdom of God) has a humble and insignificant beginning. Yet, bit by bit, step by step slowly, gradually and steadily it grows into something big and great in us and from us to the world.
It is tells something fundamental about the Church. The Church is the family of God that began in Palestine with the birth of Jesus Christ. The tiniest project of God grows and develops into a gigantic project for the entire human race.
The Church is for all nations, race, cultures, people, and theologies. There are no barriers in the church of God. Man-made barriers and God in Christ tore them down.
Ultimately, life whether the Christian life or human or even institutional life cannot grow and develop to its full potential with knowledge acquisition or guidance or direction of someone more experience in life.
Spiritual growth and development sustainable to spiritual fruitfulness are only possible under the teaching and direction of Christ the wise teacher or scholar of the Christian faith.
He taught all those who could listen to him with the common life experience to them. He was a teacher who possesses understanding, patience and kindness and does not indulge in self-display or superiority over his listeners.
In a nutshell, the human and spiritual life is God´s planted seed of grace in us. It has its birth, its growth and development sustain by God alone. However, we should be cooperative with God to bring about its fruitfulness. Like every human effort to sustainable growth and development, and spiritual fruitfulness requires the acquisition of knowledge and expertise direction.
FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS
Are you conscious of life whether human, spiritual or ecclesial life as a gift of grace from God?
Do you prioritize spiritual growth and renewal in your Christian faith and life?
Spiritual fruitfulness is the essence of our human existence: what are the obstacles or challenges in your life detaining you from attaining this divine purpose of God?
What collaborative effort do you make through prayer, spiritual knowledge or spiritual direction to realize spiritual growth, development and fruitfulness in your life?
OUR PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, the growth of the Kingdom of God in us is the work of the Holy Spirit. Help us conscious of this and may we make a sincere and honest effort to humbly cooperate with the Spirit action in our lives to optimistically, graciously and fruitfully continue our work of witnessing. Equally, may we continue to sow tiny seeds in the form of words of love, acts of encouragement, smiles, and deeds of charity, mercy and forgiveness, Amen!
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