Wednesday of the Twelfth Week of Ordinary Time

posted in: Homilies, Ordinary Time | 0

Today’s readings

The process of discernment is one that takes the better part of one’s life to learn, I think.  This is a skill that involves a great deal of trial and error, quite a bit of learned wisdom, and of course the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  “By their fruits you will know them,” Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel.  I fear that we may be rather disconnected from our rural roots and may not have the experience of finding a rotten tree by its fruits.  But anyone who does a good bit of grocery shopping will tell you there are some places you shop for produce and others you don’t.  That’s the indicator Jesus wants us to know today.  Against this lens we have to hold up our relationships, our pending decisions, our choices for how to spend our time.  What comes of these things?  If good things follow, then they are meant for us.  If bad things follow, we have to uproot them mercilessly in order that they may not poison our spiritual lives.  By their fruits we will know them.