+ “Every tree is known by its own fruit. A good person out of the store
of goodness in his heart produces good.”
How does that goodness come to
be stored in a believer’s heart?
Through “the cup of blessing”
that is “a participation in the Blood of Christ” and “the bread that we break”
which is “a participation in the Body of Christ.
There are two motives for
doing good works: self-glorification
that would come from stooping down to help someone who was thrown down in front
of us by the circumstances of life, in many ways pleading for help, pleading
for something you alone could truly give them.
The other motive is: self-sacrifice – that comes not from
stooping but by reaching out – on the same level that poor and needy people are
at – celebrating the fact that we are exactly like “the rest of men” – and that
self-denial can open us up to be a viable instrument of grace, peace, healing,
blessing and reconciliation in the hand of Christ the Redeemer, Healer,
Reconciler of potential Friend of people everywhere.
Good
fruit in this case flows from the second motivation: and it
truly comes from the heart – a heart that dwells in the very heart of God and
has an infinite supply of blessings to share!
To refill the resources of our
hearts, we come to mass daily – we take
up the cup of blessing, and the bread of life and so participate in God’s
own Redemptive life! This is the Joy of the Mass and it is the joy we have to
share.
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