Bearing good fruit, nourishing our faith

Saturday, September 10, 2011:  Today’s liturgy speaks about a good tree bearing good fruit and a bad tree bearing bad fruit.  In every fruit-bearing tree is a seed: apple, pear, plum, chestnut, apricot, banana, breadfruit, mango, oranges, etc. The fruit does nothing but await the nutrients the tree feeds it: water, sun’s rays, and its own sap or the nutrients from within the tree. Within you and me, a seed was planted by God’s creation of us. We are all created in the image of God. That image grows at its own pace, as does the apple, orange, mango, etc.  Besides the gift of being created in God’s image is the gift of faith given many of us at our baptism.  This seed also grows, if we give it the nourishment  it needs. And it grows, also, at its own pace. My faith today is very different than my faith as a adolescent, for instance.  The question is:  Am I providing the nourishment my faith needs every day to grow into a “strong oak”: prayer, solitude, the sacraments, reflection on the Scriptures, and relating to others in the events of each day in a way that my actions and attitudes are life-giving and flow from the power of the Spirit at the core of my being?