In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control… – Galatians 5:22-23

       She was shivering a bit with fever. She felt cold. Her teacher called her mom to fetch her. She was a six-year-old kid in the school where I work. As she waited for her fetcher, I asked her to sit on my lap, conversed with her and embraced her to give her warmth. I sensed her fear disappear. She relaxed. After a while, she felt a little better.

        That time, I also felt cold. I had a bad cough and I was busy finishing my work. But as I saw her, the Lord touched my heart and moved me to leave what I was doing and forget what I was feeling. God’s Spirit made His fruit flow from my heart.

       When we allow the Holy Spirit to transform us, His fruit begin to gradually grow in us. We cannot help but share them to others. We are not the only one blessed with them, but also the people we encounter in our daily lives. Let us always allow the Divine Spirit to work in us and through us. Ma. Luisa De la Cruz (theessence_byluisa@yahoo.com)

Reflection:Do you allow the Holy Spirit to transform you every day? In what ways can you share His fruit to others?

Dear Holy Spirit, change me into the child the Father wants me to be and make me bear Your fruit for the sake of others. Amen.

Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, pray for us.

Take a close look at the lists of sin and fruit of the Spirit and see what it means for growth in your life. If any of the sins are present or a fruit of the Spirit is lacking in our life, then there is more work to be done. We must learn to judge ourselves before we judge others. Jesus teaches us that how we judge others is the same standard by which God will judge us.

18 Brothers and sisters: If you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are obvious: immorality, impurity, licentiousness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, 21 occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God. 22 In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit.

R: Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.

1 Blessed the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked nor walks in the way of sinners, nor sits in the company of the insolent, 2 but delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on his law day and night. (R) 3 He is like a tree planted near running water that yields its fruit in due season, and whose leaves never fade. Whatever he does prospers. (R) 4 Not so the wicked, not so; they are like chaff which the wind drives away. 6 For the Lord watches over the way of the just, but the way of the wicked vanishes. (R)

Jesus tells the Pharisees that they are right to keep the Law but that is not enough. He reminds them to live with mercy and compassion. It is this teaching that differentiates the New Testament from the Old Testament. The Old Testament Law is not devoid of love and compassion, but it was interpreted and lived out differently.

My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord; I know them, and they follow me.

42 The Lord said: “Woe to you Pharisees! You pay tithes of mint and of rue and of every garden herb, but you pay no attention to judgment and to love for God. These you should have done, without overlooking the others. 43 Woe to you Pharisees! You love the seat of honor in synagogues and greetings in marketplaces. 44 Woe to you! You are like unseen graves over which people unknowingly walk.” 45 Then one of the scholars of the law said to him in reply, “Teacher, by saying this you are insulting us too.” 46 And he said, “Woe also to you scholars of the law! You impose on people burdens hard to carry, but you yourselves do not lift one finger to touch them.”

think: Jesus teaches us that how we judge others is the same standard by which God will judge us.

Thank You Lord for: __________________

READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Obadiah & Jonah

THE LIGHT OF LIFE

The Lord is on a roll! He has been bombarding us with pithy sayings and statements, every single one of them packed with meaning. Today, He picks on the Pharisees and scholars of the law to highlight the opposite of what they stood for.

     But lest we think we are not cut from the same mould as the Pharisees, let us take a second look. St. Paul speaks about things we are no stranger to, if we are honest: “immorality, impurity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like.” Will the one who has no sin then cast the first stone?

       No wonder the Lord today has a long list of woes. He could also be referring to anyone of us, for it would be difficult for anyone to honestly claim that he or she is beyond committing even one of those sins. Who among us did not fall into the trap of envy and selfishness at some point in our lives?

       But the woes are not there to pin us down — on the contrary, they are to prop us up. The Lord mentioned them not to highlight wickedness but to underline its opposite — holiness. Scripture clarifies for us what holiness is all about. It has to do with following the Lord. “Blessed the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked, but delights in the law of the Lord.” It is the blessedness of the “sheep who hear the voice of the Lord.”

       The Lord may have been straightforward with those who follow their own caprices and whims, but the same Lord is just as forthright about what the fruits of holiness are: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”

     They constitute a bumper crop of harvests — fruits abounding for those who hear the Lord’s voice and follow Him. It is not woes that will befall them, but they will “have the light of life.” Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

REFLECTION QUESTION: Go back to the list of sins mentioned above. Which ones do you often fall into? Ask God for forgiveness and the grace to be free from its grip.

Dearest Lord, forgive me for the many times I failed You through my habitual sins. I need Your grace to be freed from their bondage. Amen.