Meditations

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. Galatians 5:22-23

“The lack of real fruit in our apostolate can also arise from passivity, from the absence of deeds of love. And if activism is bad and sterile, passivity is deadly, for it can lead us to think that we love God because we perform works of piety: it is true that these pious exercises are carried out, but not perfectly, since they do not move us to good actions.

Such barren pious practices are like the useless and sterile foliage of the fig tree, because true interior life will inevitably lead to a vigorous apostolate: in every situation it impels us to act with courage, daring, and initiative… Today, as we converse with our Lord in these moments of prayer, we can examine ourselves as to whether there is fruit in our life, now, this very moment.

Do I have initiative, as an overflow of my interior life, of my prayer? Or do I think, on the contrary, that in my surroundings – in my class, in the factory, in the office – I can do nothing, that it’s impossible to anything more for God? Do I give my time, do I help effectively in apostolic tasks… or do I ‘only pray’? Do I try to justify myself, saying that between my work, my family, and my devotional practices ‘I haven’t got any time’?

If that were the case, it would also mean that the circumstances of work and family life had cease to be an occasion for apostolate…And if our Lord were to find us passive, content to perform pious practices without the accompaniment of a cheerful and constant apostolate, then perhaps He might say to us in our heart: more deeds, please and fewer excuses.”

Francis Fernandez in In Conversation with God: Meditations for Each Day of the Year, volume 3 (London: Scepter, 1990) 463.

Don’t let the word ‘apostolate’ intimidate you. Hear it as ‘missional living’ with intentionality and cheerfulness. And hear the call to avoid the extremes of activism (yesterday) and passivity (today).

Our lives, our families, our work, and our everyday focus will be ‘missional’ in nature if we have a vibrant interior life. I represents the overflow. So, if you want to grow in generosity, cultivate your walk with Jesus.

He wants to see the fruit of generosity in your life more than you do. Cultivate that connection with Him and then let Him deploy you. Remain faithful, available, and teachable. But know this.

While the Spirit will not lead you to activism nor passivity, it will lead to joy-filled generosity and also make you feel uncomfortable. You will have indescribable peace and yet have your faith stretched.

Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to find out if it had any fruit. When He reached it, He found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Mark 11:13

“Jesus finds only leaves… Having an interior life means living with God’s vision, seeing our apostolic task from His viewpoint. Apostolic fruit cannot be lasting when a Christian falls prey to activism, which is the tendency to be ‘doing things’, to rush around, without the support of a deep prayer life. In the end, the furious activity turns out to be sterile and ineffective, and is often the sign of a lack of rectitude of intention.

It is purely human activity without any supernatural perspective. It is perhaps the consequence of ambition, of a desire to attract attention, which can infect everything we do, even the most sublime of undertakings. So there is good reason for stressing the danger of activism – of multiplying deeds which, though good in themselves, have no interior life to support them. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, and many authors after him, called such works accursed occupations.

Francis Fernandez in In Conversation with God: Meditations for Each Day of the Year, volume 3 (London: Scepter, 1990) 463.

This year the garden at my home produced an abundance of cucumbers. There were lots of leaves and a load of cucumbers, so Jenni and I had enjoyed and shared many cucumbers and had fun learning to make pickles.

It has been quite a joy for us to find much fruit on those cucumber vines.

But the pumpkins have been another story. The vines have taken over the garden side of our house, but like the fig tree, when we have searched for pumpkins, like Jesus when He looked for figs, largely speaking, we found only leaves.

The vines look great with big green leaves, but we found little fruit.

I guess the pumpkin plant needed pollination for the flowers to make pumpkins. That pollination reminds me of the interior life that needs to be cultivated, the soul that must be fed, before fruit will blossom.

To avoid the danger of activism (doing things for God), abide in Christ and you will bear much fruit.

Ponder this. Are you doing yourself to death? Or is God producing 30-, 60-, or even 100-fold fruit in your life in a way that brings Him glory. Only you can answer this.

Avoid the danger of activism which links to doing things for God.

Jesus neither wants nor needs our help, and yet, He really wants to produce a bumper crop in and through us. He wants to see more than leaves but to do this we must abide in the vine.

When evening came, Jesus and His disciples went out of the city. In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!” “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Mark 11:19-24

“We need to live by faith and use the means within our reach in every situation. We cannot sit with our arms folded waiting for the ideal moment, which perhaps will never come… We cannot wait for everything to be just right in order to work for God. We have to show by our present actions the love we have in our heart. We will see how God will multiply and bless our efforts, puny though they may be.”

Francis Fernandez in In Conversation with God: Meditations for Each Day of the Year, volume 3 (London: Scepter, 1990) 462.

I love how Fernandez puts things in perspective for us with the words “multiply” and “puny” in today’s reading linked to another one of the fig tree scenes in the Gospels.

God multiplies what we contribute, though we may feel like our efforts or gifts are puny in proportion to the size of the need. What God wants to see is faith and trust in Him.

I love that when Jesus or Paul encourage giving in the New Testament it always links to the capacity of the giver and not the size of the need.

This is the case because giving is about something bigger than the need. It’s about growth in our faith. So, if you are sitting with your arms folded or if you are waiting for an ideal moment, please realize that it may never come.

The time to act generously is now. The time to grow in faith is today.

I was training a group of 200 from the Philippines online last week. They logged in from many island communities. One person asked, “Why give if I have very little? What difference will it make.”

I reminded him that what matters first is the faith in his heart. And though I did not use the words “multiply” and “puny” my comments were similar to my words in this post.

I also told him that if he is ready to give cheerfully, what Jesus looks at is not the size of his gift but what he has not given and what it says about his heart.

I continued saying that giving is not about the money, which may seem puny. It’s an exercise that strengthens our faith muscles. That’s what God wants to see grow growing on our fig trees.

Early in the morning, as Jesus was on His way back to the city, He was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, He went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then He said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered. When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked. Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” Matthew 21:18-22

“You also ought to guard against becoming a fruitless tree, in order to offer Jesus, who has become poor, the fruit which He needs.”

Venerable Bede (672-735), a monk at the Northumbrian Monastery in Commentary on St. Mark’s Gospel.

As we ponder the fig tree this week, we find many lessons in looking at the leaves.

Bede points one out. We must guard against becoming fruitless. Our proclivity or tendency is to fruitlessness. But how do we give Jesus the fruit He wants and needs.

The secret is in the second half of the text.

If you have faith, even the impossible can happen. You can have fruit out of season or when no one would expect it. This encourages me today. It’s deeply biblical thinking.

At this point I want to make a last call. Take advantage of this and share it with others.

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The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to find out if it had any fruit. When He reached it, He found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then He said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And His disciples heard Him say it. Mark 11:12-14

“Jesus knew that it was not the season for figs. He knew that there were none on the fig tree. He wished, however, to teach His disciples, in a way they would never forget, how God had come to the Jewish people, hungry for fruits of holiness and good works. All He had found were mere lifeless observances: worthless leaves.

On that occasion too, the Apostles learned that every moment presents a good opportunity for giving results. We cannot wait for special circumstances in order to sanctify ourselves. God comes to us looking for good deeds in moments of sickness, in our ordinary everyday occupations, both when we are overworked and when everything is going well and all is ordered and peaceful.

He visits us as much in our tiredness as in our rest, in success and failure, in financial ruin – if God allows it – and in times of prosperity. It is precisely those circumstances which can and should produce fruit – all different, perhaps, but unique and wonderful. We should find God in all circumstances because He gives us the graces we need.”

Francis Fernandez in In Conversation with God: Meditations for Each Day of the Year, volume 3 (London: Scepter, 1990) 460-461.

We shift our focus in Scripture from Jesus and the blind man to Jesus and the fig tree. This one, unfortunately, has nothing but leaves.

Related to generosity, I so often hear people procrastinate instead of act. Let me explain. They reason that if a deal goes through, then they will be generous. If they have extra time in their schedule, then they will serve.

And they suggest that life is first about preserving comfort for themselves and their families, all the while, in so doing they teach their own to be selfish and self-centered.

Meanwhile, as I walk with my dog, Grace, pictured above, and as I walk with Jesus, I see a Lord who had no place to lay his head, that means he had no cushy bed. He was walking along in today’s text and hungry.

I see His humanity up close. I hear his stomach growl.

And in that moment of His hunger, he expects the tree to always be ready to provide fruit. That’s His call for us. When Jesus comes to us, whispers to us, beckons us to give, serve, or love, let us be sure He finds more than leaves.

As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to Him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord, I want to see,” he replied. Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God. Luke 18:35-43

“The story of the blind man is our own story, since we are blind in many matters. Jesus passes near us. Perhaps the moment has come for us to leave the ditch by the roadside and accompany Him…

From Saint Luke we. know that he followed Him, glorifying God and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God… We also have received many graces, as great as or greater than that received by the blind man of Jericho. And our Lord is hoping also that our life and our conduct will help many find Jesus in the world of today.

And he followed Him on the way, glorifying God. This is a summary of what our own life may be if we have the living and operative faith of the blind man.”

Francis Fernandez in In Conversation with God: Meditations for Each Day of the Year, volume 3 (London: Scepter, 1990) 458-459.

Are you in the ditch? That’s where I find myself sometimes.

Notice those leading the proverbial procession don’t help the blind man out of the ditch; they rebuke him and tell him to stay there.

Too often we listen to the lack of faith of others and we let it immobilize us.

Not this blind man. And not you and me, I pray. The blind man in Luke’s account had a living and operative faith. No naysayer would come between him and the Healer.

The generosity in this scene for us to imitate, is the generosity of our Lord Jesus. He sees and hears the faith of the person and affirms it.

Do we hear the faith of improbable people and beckon them to leave the ditch?

This may be my greatest joy as part of GTP. We invite people out of the ditch and empower them. to exercise their living and operative faith. Need help in this area.

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As Jesus and His disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed Him. Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. “Lord,” they answered, “we want our sight.” Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed Him. Matthew 20:29-34

“Would that, realizing our blindness, we were seated by the roadside of the Scriptures, and hearing that Jesus is passing by, that we could make him stop beside us with the force of our prayer.”

Origen of Alexandria (c. 185-253) in Commentary on St. Matthew’s Gospel 12:20.

God has me sitting in this text and the parallel passage in Mark this week. I hope it ministers to you too.

We see the mercy and compassion of Jesus meet the blindness and brokenness of two blind men. They believe that Jesus can give them what they need: mercy (not the judgment they deserve) and sight (vision that can only come from Him).

In Matthew’s Gospel, it is not one blind man named Bartimaeus but two blind men that receive their sight.

This implies that what God did for Bartimaeus was not a one off. Jesus can do it for two men. He can do it for me and you. He can hold back judgment and give clear vision.

Wherever you are today, make Him stop. Ask Jesus for mercy and vision. As He gives it, follow Him wherever He leads.

This shapes our generosity as His calls for giving our lives, our resources, and anything else, will seem crazy according to the world’s way of thinking, but once we have mercy and vision, they make sense in God’s economy.

“Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. Mark 10:52

“The blind man replies immediately. Lord that I may see. He does not ask the Lord for gold, but for sight. He has little use for anything except to be able to see, because although a blind man can have many other things, without his sight, he cannot see what he has got. Let us imitate, therefore, what we have just heard.”

Gregory the Great in Homilies on the Gospels 2.7.

Gregory makes an interesting point. What does sight give us? The ability to see what we have. This positions us to respond to the “go’ command from Jesus. We see. We discern direction. Then we act, we move, we go.

I have arrived safely at home. And I pray for sight for me and each person that participated in the GTP Global Gathering this past week and I pray this for all readers of Daily Meditations.

Imagine what Bartimaeus got when His prayer was answered. He saw God incarnate standing right in front of him. This is precisely what happens when Jesus gives us sight.

To think we need gold to make things happen is to walk in blindness. To realize what we have – we have God with us – and whatever He has given us, we can go and do whatever He asks of us.

I pray for you and me to have sight today.

“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” Mark 10:51

“Now Bartimaeus is standing before Jesus. The people gather around to see what will happen. Our Lord asks him: What do you want me to do for you? He, who could restore sight – did He really no know what the blind man wanted? Jesus wants us to ask him. He knows our needs before we do, and He wants to remedy them.”

Francis Fernandez in In Conversation with God: Meditations for Each Day of the Year, volume 3 (London: Scepter, 1990) 457.

What do you want Jesus to do for you? I notice as I ponder the act of asking, it does something very interesting. It reveals the condition of my heart.

What do you want Jesus to do for you? Imagine the generosity of our God to pose this question. Imagine the power of this invitation. What are you waiting for?

What do you want Jesus to do for you? Ask Him.

I asked God to bring 60 people from 28 countries and territories together to knit their hearts together in unity for global collaboration. He did that and more, beyond what I could have asked or imagined.

Like great spices come together to make a meal, He worked to expand the GTP global team.

Today, my prayer is asking God to complete the work He started in our time together, in the life of each person. As they discern their faithful activities, I am asking Him to help them do them over the next year.

I concluded our time sending them forth – as board members, staff members, regional facilitators, country coordinators, course moderators, and special friends with this blessing.

But now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ declares the LORD. ‘Be strong, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the LORD, ‘and work. For I am with you,’ declares the LORD Almighty. Haggai 2:4

And I am asking God for safe travel as Jenni and I board a long direct flight from Istanbul to Denver. And also lifting up prayers for the rest of the participants to make it safely to their destinations.

He told them: “Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt. Luke 9:3

“Never forget that Christ cannot be reached without sacrifice. We have to get rid of everything that gets in the way: greatcoat, haversack, water bottle.”

Francis Fernandez in In Conversation with God: Meditations for Each Day of the Year, volume 3 (London: Scepter, 1990) 457.

Today, many of my co-workers and fellow volunteers are returning to the corders of the world. This post serves as good packing instructions for them.

But you can’t understand it if you don’t know what a greatcoat, haversack, and water bottle are. The greatcoat implies covering. The haversack is like a backpack which refers carries supplies or tools. And the water bottle carried the most critical element of sustenance, water.

So Jesus with his instructions and Fernandez in reply remind us that it is not these tools which provide the power for ministry, it is Christ.

Only when we stop trusting in these tools do we understand His power. Only then can we wield them when we are free from dependence upon them. The workers understand this sacrifice expected of them by our Lord so they are ready and fit for service. Are you?