fruits of the Spirit

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Saturday, 26 October 2024 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Luke 13 : 1-9

At that time, one day, some people told Jesus what had occurred in the Temple : Pilate had had Galileans killed, and their blood mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. Jesus asked them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered this? No, I tell you. But unless you change your ways, you will all perish, as they did.”

“And those eighteen persons in Siloah, who were crushed when the tower fell, do you think they were more guilty than all the others in Jerusalem? I tell you : no. But unless you change your ways, you will perish as they did.” And Jesus continued, “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it, but found none. Then he said to the gardener, ‘Look here, for three years now I have been looking for figs on this tree, and I have found none. Cut it down, why should it continue to deplete the soil?’”

“The gardener replied, ‘Leave it one more year, so that I may dig around it and add some fertiliser; perhaps it will bear fruit from now on. But if it does not, you can cut it down.’”

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Wednesday, 12 October 2022 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Galatians 5 : 18-25

But when you are led by the Spirit you are not under the Law. You know what comes from the flesh : fornication, impurity and shamelessness, idol worship and sorcery, hatred, jealousy and violence, anger, ambition, division, factions, and envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like. I again say to you what I have already said : those who do these things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy and peace, patience, understanding of others, kindness and fidelity, gentleness and self-control. For such things there is no Law or punishment. Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its vices and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us live in a spiritual way.

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Sunday, 31 May 2020 : Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Acts 2 : 1-11

When the day of Pentecost came, the disciples of Jesus were all together in one place. And suddenly out of the sky came a sound like a strong rushing wind and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. There appeared tongues as if of fire which parted and came to rest upon each one of them. All were filled with Holy Spirit and began to speak other languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.

Staying in Jerusalem were religious Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd gathered, all excited because each heard them speaking in his own language. Full of amazement and wonder, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? How is it that we hear them in our own native language?”

“Here are Parthians, Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and foreigners who accept Jewish beliefs, Cretians and Arabians; and all of us hear them proclaiming in our own language what God, the Saviour, does.”

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Wednesday, 26 June 2013 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Dear brothers and sisters, we are warned today by the Lord of the presence of false prophets who would certainly try to lead us astray from the path of salvation and wrest us away from God’s hands, through their numerous devious and insidious means to corrupt us and our beings that we become unworthy of the Lord our God.

Do not be led astray by these false prophets and their lies, dear brothers and sisters in Christ! Remember that no man or angel can be as truthful and faithful as our Lord and God in His promises, the covenant He had made with Abraham, which we heard this day in the first reading, which He renewed with all of us through the Blood of the Lamb of God, that is Christ Jesus our Lord.

We have to keep faithful to our faith in the Lord Jesus, that we will remain in God’s grace and remain in His love. Put our full trust in the Lord, and believe in Him. Do not fear, for God will always remain with us, as long as we keep Him in us. If we keep faith in the Lord, the Lord will dwell within us, and He will recognise us, because we will shine with the light of God that is within us.

What matters is that we keep God’s commandments that is love, that we love one another as Christ had commanded us, and love our God with all our hearts, our minds, and our beings. In doing so, we also do the will of God, and the Lord who loves us will reward us with His love and eternal life.

If we do not keep our faith in God, then the fruits of the Holy Spirit that God gave us cannot grow, and we will bear rotten fruits just like the bad trees that are barren and useless. That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, we should remain always in God’s favour and love, through our own words, actions, and dedication to the Lord and His people.

Holy Spirit grants us much gifts, the gifts of love and hope. It invigorates our hearts that it strengthens those who are downtrodden and in despair. The flames of the Holy Spirit bears much fruit when we do things rooted in love, compassion, and acts of mercy, in accordance with the Lord’s will. This gift of the Holy Spirit is granted to us freely, and we should indeed utilise them and not waste them. If we do things out of evil and darkness, we too will bear the fruits of darkness, and the gifts of the Spirit will be wasted.

Our forefather Abraham himself was rewarded for his faith in the Lord, simply because he is an upright person, and someone who kept true his faith in the Lord, and who kept strong the love of God within him. This was reflected in his actions, that he gave all he has to the Lord, without condition, even to the point of giving up Isaac, his precious son, son of the Lord’s promise, to be sacrificed for the Lord.

God who loves us had sent us His Son, Jesus, that He could renew the covenant that He made with Abraham, but broken by the evils and rebellions of our forefathers, that is Abraham’s descendants. God has given us another chance through Christ, that with the new covenant sealed by the Blood of the Lamb of God. Through His death, Christ offered us His salvation and His new covenant. Would we then waste this brilliant opportunity? Surely we won’t want it, do we?

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us pledge ourselves to the Lord, from now on, that we will truly be faithful and loving to Him, and give our best, all of our hearts to Him. Let us bear fruits, the fruits of love and the Holy Spirit. May God be with us, and guide us in our path. God bless us all! Amen.

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Friday, 22 March 2013 : 5th Week of Lent (Scripture Reflection)

Jesus Christ, is indeed the Son of God, a third of the Holy Trinity, in perfect unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit, as one and only God. He came from the Father to save us from the certainty of death caused by our rebellions against God, and the sins that our forefathers, beginning from Adam and Eve, had done in the past. He came as the bringer of a new covenant and of salvation, through His own death and resurrection on the third day after that death.

Christ had brought a new hope for all mankind, for all creation to be brought back to be once again together in God’s great love and God’s loving embrace. He had given us Himself on the cross, that He had delivered us from the hands of Satan and his evil angels, who are determined to drag us away as far as possible from God and His love, and His grace. Christ through the cross had brought a new dawn, a new light, for all the people to see. That the people who lived in darkness, are now in the light, and became children of the light, and no longer that of the darkness.

Why did the Jews then not see the goodness of Christ, that of His mission, and His redemptive actions in this world? That is because they were blind, blinded by their blind obedience to their laws, in which they failed to see that the laws and the prophecy of the prophets of times past, all of them simply pointed out to God’s love, which He was to show through the Messiah, the Saviour, who would save God’s people, all mankind, from the destruction because of sin, evil, and death.

That is why today, we have to be careful, brothers and sisters in Christ, that we too will not fail into blindness as they were, but remain in the light, and remain aware of God and His loving presence, and His good works which are still always manifest through our Church, through His ministers, our Pope, bishops, and priests. Through them, we learn about Christ, and we know about His love through their teachings, and also through the Sacred Scripture upon which we base our faith, guided by our teachers in faith.

For all of us, we are already in the light through our baptism, and our eyes are already opened to God’s love, to Christ’s mission in saving all mankind, and our hearts are already opened to receive the new covenant Christ had brought with His death and resurrection. But, we must always cultivate the love and the fruits of the Spirit that God has planted in us, that they will remain alive and robust, and that they will not stay only within ourselves, but be shared for all others around us, especially those who still closed their hearts and their minds from God and His presence.

Teach one another and bring love to one another, that they too can learn about God, and feel God’s divine presence. Not necessarily by any miraculous experience, but even our simple loving acts will make God’s love and light manifest through us, to them, allowing them to witness God’s presence firsthand, and hopefully will bring them closer to God, and accept Him as their Saviour and their Lord.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, today, let us renew our resolve to love Christ, our Lord, ever more. For He is our Saviour who had brought us from death into life, through His own death and resurrection. Let us strive to share this love with one another, especially those who still yet to find out God’s love. Bring God to them through our own actions, and keep on praying for them, for all of us, and for all those who are working hard in the ministry of the Lord and His Gospels. Amen.