Jesus was never one to mince words. We see this again today in the Gospel reading from Luke 11, where He is pronouncing woes on the Pharisees. When a scholar of the law hears this, he tells Jesus that they (the scholars of the law) feel insulted, too. So, just to even things up, Jesus pronounces an extra woe just for them! (I guess He didn’t want them to feel left out.)
In the first reading from Galatians, St. Paul talks about the fruit of the Spirit. He lists them for us: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” Have you ever sat down with this list and used it as a checklist for your life? Perhaps today would be a good day to do that.
Now, let’s be honest here. I think that each and every one of us have at least some measure of each of these nine fruits in our lives. Right? And chances are that while we may be strong in a few, we are sorely lacking in others. And the percentages probably ebb and flow from one to another at different times in our lives. But don’t you think that, if we would only open ourselves up more to the Holy Spirit, we could make a marked improvement in each of them? I think so. Come, Holy Spirit!
Father, we pray that our lives will be like a basket filled with the fruit of the Spirit. May we be open to the Spirit’s work in our lives every moment of every day. Amen.
0 comments