Everlasting Fruit

On April 18th, I went to Washington, D.C. in hopes of seeing the Cherry Blossom Trees in full bloom. Instead, I saw budding green leaves. I was late once again. All of my planning still had me a day late and a dollar short of achieving my goals as they say. The solution is simple; arrive in early April for the National Cherry Blossom Festival and you will be rewarded with pink and white blooms surrounding the Tidal Basin.

We are offered another simple solution to salvation. Jesus tells us, “I am the vine, and you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.” This “nothingness” is the Lord’s judgment on all the works of humanity that originate with us without consulting God’s Will. We can do many things and accomplish many things within our lifetimes, but what will they amount to when we die and face our Lord for an accounting of our life?

Will Jesus be able to say that he helped in balancing the finances of our world; enacted legislation that served the Holy Spirit, the Lord the giver of Life or helped people to discover the worthiness of finding work that brought out the gifts and talents of each person? How about seeing the dignity within the poor and marginalized; did we consult God about them when creating policy? And what about all of our wars, both external and internal; did we consult God before entering them or about finding a solution to them? Interestingly enough, we all want an end to war but are willing to fight to the bitter end, the brother or sister among us only to the detriment of both. Did we consult God as a possible arbiter or peace maker? How about the motives behind the decisions we made; was God involved in the discernment? Did we trust others in their discernment process and respect that God may have been involved with them even though the end result may differ from us?

Who or what were the idols that we worshipped or the altars before which we bowed? Was human advancement more important than Divine advancement? Did we rejoice in the end of Christendom as we knew it only to accept the “gods” that a pluralistic society held out to us for assent? Did we pray to God to help us address “man’s inhumanity toward man” or just accept it as the way all things must move forward? Please feel free to add your own ruminations and ponderings at this point!

My point is this: Saint John tells us, “let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.” He goes on to basically call us to open our hearts to God’s inspiration so that He can write His Truth there and we can follow the commandments not as a burden imposed upon us by a tyrannical Divine Being in the sky but as a guide and road map to unity within the Trinity. “Those who keep his commandments remain in Him, and He in them, and the way that we know that He remains in us is from the Spirit he gave us.”

The Spirit of God helps us to answer the ponderings of the human heart and places all God’s answers there. If we truly care about others, we will seek out God the Holy Spirit who is the author of all that God wishes to write on our hearts for the salvation of the Body of Christ. “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.” Many people in our country profess belief in Jesus Christ and Christianity as a whole. But can they all claim that their motives for action emanate from their union with Christ? Can you imagine a world that “remained in Christ” so as to receive all that we ask from God? Now that would be like being able to see Cherry Blossom trees year round!