Romans 8:1-11 & Luke 13:1-9
This year our apple tree produced over two hundred juicy, sweet yellow apples. Watching the fruit grow and ripen brought great joy, and a peace that despite drought, nature is designed to abundantly produce fruits that are each whole, unique and complete. So it is with our lives. We are designed, despite the environment in which we live, to abundantly produce the “Holy” fruits of the Holy Spirit of God:  Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Humility, and Self-control (Galatians 6).  It is these fruits of heart and soul that All Saints, both those unrecognized as well as those memorialized by the Church, cultivated – and cultivate- in their lives. These are the fruits of lives lived, loving God with all one’s heart, mind, soul and strength, and one’s neighbours as one’s self. These ‘juicy’ fruits of the Spirit grew because the Saints tended their lives carefully, like the gardener in Jesus’ parable.  They prayed throughout their lives letting the ‘fertilizer’ of the discipline of God’s ways fall onto the ‘soil’ of their lives – into their ways, and days;  they ‘dug around the roots’ of their life by saying no to the ways of the world, the flesh and the deceits of the devil, and yes to God’s will for them; and they tended and protected the blossoms and then the growing holy fruits in their lives by patiently doing good with kindness. Will I simply cut down the tree of my life by complaining about the present social environment of the world and giving into depression and despair (acedia)? Or will I, like All the Saints patiently tend the Holy fruits of the Spirit that I am designed to grow with my life this side of Heaven?  Holy Spirit of Jesus, help me cultivate the fruits of the Holy Spirit with my life. 
 
God chose us in Jesus before the world began to be holy and blameless in his sight… to be full of love.    (Ephesians 3:5)
 
In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love.
St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta
 
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Romans 7:18 -25
Paul says it well: “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.” Alas!  Such is the human condition, dealing as we do with the pandemic virus of sin that seems to attack us from all sides.  But is that true – are we vulnerable to sin from all sides? Is there no side of life that is free from ‘sin, the world, and the devil’ ? What is true is that Jesus showed us the way to true holiness: continually keeping in touch, through prayer and scripture (the “word”), and the Word of life, with Father God, and choosing, and being: love instead of hatred, wisdom instead of ignorance, light instead of darkness, and life instead of death. When I turn to Jesus through the re-creating breath of the Holy Spirit, I realize that there is always a ‘holy’ a ‘whole-ly’ step forward to be taken that is a direct remedy to the rabbit hole of any temptation to self-centredness and the scuzzy slipperiness of thoughts, words or actions that are disrespectful of God’s love-image stamped into my life.  Shall I be tossed to and fro by the evil that is all around me and threatens to invade my own will? Or will I committedly hold onto the fire of God’s holy love burning within my spirit?  Holy Spirit of Jesus, let not temptations ever quench the fire of your love within me.
 
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. (Psalm 51: 7)
 
Conversion to God always consists in discovering God’s mercy. 
St. John Paul II  
 
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Romans 2:1-11
I know about doing good.  I do lots of good things! And I have plans and projects aplenty to do much more – more than would fill a lifetime! But am I actually ‘doing good’ for the furtherance of God’s kingdom, for others and for myself? Am I so intent on the quantity of good that I am doing in my own eyes, that I am actually working against the coming of God’s kingdom? Is my good-doing in reality turning heads but not hearts? Am I so intent on doing good things that my own spirit is exhausted, weak and focused on striving rather than thriving?  It is when I deliberately add the virtues of patience and kindness to the mix that I am actually walking in synch with our Father’s will and become a living vessel of his mercy.  When I breathe in God’s loving, eternal patience I find myself slowing down and mindfully composing words of comfort and life, rather than carelessly shooting into others’ souls.  It is when kindness oils the paths of activities of creativity and justice that life-giving conversations and actions give birth to renewed faith, hope and love in the communities I belong to, in other individuals, and not least of all myself.  Will I simply do good, or will I patiently do good waiting for God’s timing and growth within the seasons of life? Will kindness take precedent in my agenda of ‘doing(s)’?  Holy Spirit of Jesus, help me patiently do good, with kindness.
 
God chose us in Jesus before the world began to be holy and blameless in his sight to be full of love.    (Ephesians 3:5)
 
In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love.
St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta
 
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Psalm 91
The image of God as a mother eagle with a great wingspan is comforting to say the least. "Hide me in the shadow of your wings", the Psalmist says. O that I could gather you under my wings like a mother hen her chicks Jesus announces to Jerusalem before his final entry to do the Way of the Cross. In the shelter of a mother bird’s wings chicks -who are minute, inexperienced, and immature, copies of the mother, carrying her DNA, but each whole, unique and complete in and of itself - are secure. So we who are like our heavenly Father are secure when tucked in under his protection and mercy. We are whole, unique and complete copies of him, carrying his DNA, and undoubtedly belong to God’s family but need a cozy place to sleep in proximity to his heart-beat night after night in order and shelter in the storms of life and to grow up into our full stature in the peace and warmth of his wisdom and mercy. We fit less perfectly into other ‘nests’ or man-made shelters, but find a perfect niche in the shadow of the Most High under the shelter of his wings.  Time after time when the storms of life were encroaching on Jesus, like when he was hanging on a cross on Calvary, we witnessed him, Son of God though he was, sheltering under the shadow of the Most High. When I am exhausted and spiritually hungry for righteousness, for right relationships, will I fly around aimlessly, trying out this and that, or will I return to the heartbeat of God's wisdom? When the storms of life are tossing me hither and yon, will I try to make it on my own, or go home to the familiar cover of God’s Mercy? Holy Spirit of Jesus, help me dwell in the shelter of our Father's wings.
 
 
He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.   (Psalm 91:4)
 
If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. But if you look at Christ, you’ll be at rest.
Corrie Ten Boom.
 
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Jonah 4:1-11
Even more than proclaiming salvation to the large number of people like the population of Nineveh, God desires that we accept his mercy in our hearts, and minds with our souls and our strength.  He challenged Jonah, Is it right to be angry at me for being merciful … and ready to relent from punishing? And is it right for you to be angry about the bush [dying]…which you did not grow? With this example of Jonah, God guides us to freely understand – and accept - his mercy. Is it right for us to become frustrated with the surprising ways in which others make their own choices and live with the consequences? Is it right for us to become mad at God and the world when an expectation, or a job, or a relationship, peters out, or we lose property or possessions?  Anger is never the ‘right’ response to the chances and changes of this life. Our response can always be redeemed by a word of thanks or a prayer with trust that helps us refocus on the love, the light and life of God’s abundant Mercy.  Holy Spirit of Jesus, help me not be angry at, but accepting of, your mercy.
 
Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall go back again.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!
We accept good things from God; and should we not accept evil? (Job 1:2 &2:10)
 
If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. But if you look at Christ, you’ll be at rest.
Corrie Ten Boom.
 
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