Daily Gospel Reflection

Judge by the Fruits

Welcome back to Radical & Relevant where we are exploring the genius of the gospel and looking for practical ways to live today's gospel reading as we go out into the world. Today's reading comes from the Gospel of Matthew 7:15-20. "Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns or figs from thistles? So every sound tree bears good fruit and a bad tree bears evil fruit. The sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, you will know them by their fruits." What jumps out at you today? What jumps out at you today? Do you judge a tree by its fruits or do you have biases and prejudices that allow you to overlook their fruits, overlook what Jesus is saying here today? I think what jumps out of me today is what I often see in ministry and how some ministries will put other ministries down. And the other ministry is just different, doing different things, trying to serve probably different people. But we tend to lack the maturity to say, "That isn't for me because of where I'm at in my journey, but I can see how that could be really helpful to some other people at different places in their journey." And we need to discover that maturity. We need to be able to say, "Yes, that ministry is bearing good fruit. It isn't fruit for me, but it's good fruit for the people who need it where they are in their journey." Have an amazing day. And remember, be bold. Be Catholic.