Are You Bearing Fruit?

Let's begin in the name of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Let's call to mind all those. We've promised to pray for. I believe in God the Father Almighty,”

creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, He is only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. On the third day, he rose again.

He ascended into heaven and he seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life of lasting. Amen. Our Father, who art in heaven, hollowed with beer, name that kingdom come by, will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us the stay our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses. As we forgive those who

trespass against us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed our thumb on women, blessed it is a fruit of thy”

womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us and earns now in the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed our thumb on women, blessed it is a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us and earns now in at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed our thumb on women, blessed it is a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us and earns now in at the hour of our death. Amen.

Hail Mary, to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

As it was in the beginning as now, never shall be, world without end. Amen.

Our first mystery. In Luke chapter 13, Jesus tells a parable with three characters, an owner, a gardener, and a fig tree. Their once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it, but found none, he said to the gardener, for three years now, I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree and have found none. So cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil? The gardener said to him and reply,

sir, leave it for this year also, and I will cultivate the ground around it and spread manure around it, that it may bear fruit in the future. And if it does not, then you can cut it down.

The owner is disappointed with his fig tree rightfully so, because it's not bearing fruit.

So he wants to cut it down. The gardener pleads for the tree to have more time, but if it doesn't

“bear fruit after that, it will be cut down. How does this apply to us?”

Our father, who art in heaven, hollowed beer name, that kingdom come by will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us a stare, daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses. As we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee blessed, our thumb, and women blessed is a fruit to thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us in our ensnown at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee blessed, our thumb, and women blessed is a fruit to thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in our ensnown at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee blessed, our thumb, and women blessed is a fruit to thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us in our ensnown at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee blessed, our thumb, and women blessed is a fruit to thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in our ensnown at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee blessed, our thumb, and women blessed is a fruit to thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in our ensnown at the hour of our death, amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee blessed, our thumb, and women blessed is a fruit to thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in our ensnown at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee blessed, our thumb, and women blessed is a fruit to thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in our ensnown at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee blessed, our thumb, and women blessed is a fruit to thy womb Jesus.

Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee blessed, our thumb, and women blessed is a fruit to thy womb Jesus.

“Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in our ensnown at the hour of our death, amen.”

Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee blessed, our thumb, and women blessed is a fruit to thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in our ensnown at the hour of our death, amen. Glory be to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, as now

never shall be, world without end, amen. Oh, my Jesus, forgive us, our sins, save us from the fires of

hell, lead all souls to have an especially those most in need of thy mercy. Our second mystery. On the one hand, Israel was the fig tree, because Israel was God's special vine, special tree, and for a long, long time, God gave this tree special care, preparing it to bear fruit.

“And then the time came. Christ appeared in Judea, ready to gather the spiritual fruits that had been”

prepared by the long cultivation. But instead, he was met mostly by barrenness with a few notable

exceptions. The bulk of the chosen people did not bear fruit of faith in the Messiah,

even after three years of Christ's public ministry. Now the owner of the fig tree, God the Father, says, "It's time for this tree to go." And Christ, the gardener, pleads for just a little more time. Maybe his death and resurrection will convert the nation. Maybe the power of the spirit coming at Pentecost will change them. So a little more time is given to them. One more year. One more generation. But no, they remain largely fruitless. And in 70 AD, the tree of Israel is cut down

by the Romans, and most of the Jews were deported and only the stump of the tree remained.

Now a faithful remnant of Israel did gather around Jesus, Mary, the apostles, the first disciples,

and this remnant became the beginning of the Catholic Church. And then something new happened. The Gentiles were grafted in. And the Catholic Church became Israel renewed and expanded, made up of faithful Jews and faithful Gentiles united in Christ. As Paul explains, the Gentiles are like wild branches grafted onto Israel's allotry. The root remains the same. But the tree now grows to include all nations. So the parable of the fig tree is in just about

“Israel. It's about the Catholic Church. It's about us. So are we bearing the fruit God expects?”

Our Father who art in heaven, how it would be your name, thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us a stay our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with the blessed, our thumb, and women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God,

free for us and earns now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with the blessed, our thumb, and women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, free for us and earns now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with the blessed, our thumb, and women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, free for us and earns now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with

the blessed, our thumb, and women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, free for us and earns now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with the blessed, our thumb, and women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, free for us and earns now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with the blessed, our thumb, and women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God,

the blessed, our thumb, and women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God,

“free for us and earns now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with”

the blessed, our thumb, and women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, free for us and earns now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with the blessed, our thumb, and women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, free for us and earns now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with the blessed, our thumb, and women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God,

free for us and earns now in the hour of our death, amen. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,

and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, it has now never shall be,

“we're all without end, amen. All my Jesus, forgive us, our sins, save us from the fires of hell,”

lead all souls to have an especially those most in need of thy mercy. Our third mystery, we have been put on this earth to bear fruit. The fruits of the Spirit love joy, peace forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, but we're meant to bear all the fruits of the virtues. Faith, hope, love, prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance, and so on. God has made us for that, and Christ is the

gardener who expended all his effort to the point of shedding his blood so that we would flourish and bloom in those virtues. And if we don't bear fruit, then we're like that fig tree. God will order us to be cut down, since there's no point in letting us take space up on earth when we're not doing any good. So when are we supposed to be buried for all the time, not just in old age, not just later, when we're retired or we think we have more

time or when we're inspired. No, we have to bear fruit. Now, do you remember when Jesus goes to a

“fig tree that doesn't have any fruit? He curses that fig tree and it withers and dies?”

Now what's interesting about that is that St. Mark tells us that it wasn't even the season for figs. So why did Jesus curse the fig tree? Probably he did it as a sign for us to remember.

It's always the season for us to be buried, the fruits of holiness. No excuses. We can't wait

and say, I'll get holy later. There was no later for the fig tree and there might not be any later for us. Our father who art in heaven, hollowed beer name, that kingdom come by will be down on earth as it is in heaven. Give us a daily bread and forgive us our trespasses. As we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil Imen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed our Thal among women, blessed he's a fruit of

thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us and earns now in the hour of our death Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed our Thal among women, blessed he's a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us and earns now in the hour of our death Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed our Thal among women, blessed he's a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us and earns now in the hour of our death Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed our Thal among women, blessed he's a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us and earns now in the hour of our death Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed our Thal among women, blessed he's a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us and earns now in the hour of our death Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed our Thal among women, blessed he's a fruit of

thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us and earns now in the hour of our death Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed our Thal among women, blessed he's a fruit of

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed our Thal among women, blessed he's a fruit of

“thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us and earns now in the hour of our death Amen.”

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed our Thal among women, blessed he's a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us and earns now in the hour of our death Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed our Thal among women, blessed he's a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us and earns now in the hour of our death Amen. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning as

noun to verse shall be, we're all with that end Amen. Oh, my Jesus. For give us our sins, save us from the fires of hell,

lead all souls to have an especially those most in need of thy mercy. Our fourth mystery, now I

“want you to think about one other aspect of this gospel that when the owner of the fig tree tells the”

gardener to cut it down, the gardener says, "No, wait, let's wait a year. Let me spread some manure around it so that it will grow." Now you might be feeling like the gardener has spread some manure in your life and you may be wondering, "Why is God doing this to me? Why has God allowed these sufferings and trials and contradictions and sicknesses and losses

all the manure of life because He wants you to grow?" And this is one of your greatest ways to grow,

but only if we accept it with trust that the gardener knows what He's doing and He's actually acting for our best interests. So let's pray to the gardener for the grace to trust Him in what He's doing

“to accept these crosses and to offer them up. Our Father, whoards in heaven,”

hellowed be your name. That kingdom come by will be down on earth as it is in heaven. Give us a stay our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trust passing in Stess and lead us not into temptation, deliver us from evil amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed, art thou among women blessed, he's a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us in earth,

now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed, art thou among women blessed, he's a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us in earth, now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed, art thou among women blessed, he's a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us in earth, now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with

thee blessed, art thou among women blessed, he's a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us in earth, now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed, art thou among women blessed, he's a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us in earth, now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed, art thou among women blessed, he's a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary,

mother of God, pray for us in earth, now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed, art thou among women blessed, he's a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us in earth, now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed, art thou among women blessed, he's a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us in earth, now in the hour of our death, amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed, art thou among women blessed, he's a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us in earth, now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed, art thou among women blessed, he's a fruit of

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the meeting as now, never shall be

“world with that end, amen. Oh, my Jesus, forgive us, our sins, save us from the fires of hell,”

lead all souls to have, and especially those most in need of thy mercy. Our fifth mystery, notice a final aspect of the parable, the gardener praise for more time. Every year, every day, every hour and minute is another chance for conversion. Another chance to grow and virtue. One more chance to help others to God. When our time is up, our opportunity is up as well. But Jesus intercedes for us to ask God to give us more time. This is what we have to do.

Not only for ourselves, but for those we love. We have to ask God to give them more time. Think of the person closest to you, who is farthest from God, who has not yielded the fruit of faith and holiness. Pray to God for mercy for that person. Pray for God to give more time to that

“person. Because all it takes is a little time. When the power of God's grace finds just a crack of”

openness in the human heart, then it doesn't take much, and things can turn on a dime.

It will not take much to turn a lost soul into a saint. Just never stop praying,

the God keeps sending His grace and grants the mercy of just a little more time. Our Father, who arts in heaven, hell, it would be your name, by kingdom come by will be down on earth as it is in heaven. Give us a stay, our daily bread, in free of us, our trespasses, as we free of those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with the blessed,

our Thalman, women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God,

“pray for us sinners, now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with”

the blessed, our Thalman, women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners, now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with the blessed, our Thalman, women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with the blessed, our Thalman, women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with

the blessed, our Thalman, women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with the blessed, our Thalman, women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with the blessed, our Thalman, women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners, now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with the blessed, our Thalman, women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with the blessed, our Thalman, women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with

the blessed, our Thalman, women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in the hour of our death, amen. Glory be to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, as now in the number shall be, world without end, amen. All my Jesus. Forgive us, our sins, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to have and especially those most in need of

thy mercy. The same Michael, the Archangel, Defendos, in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebeacon, we humbly pray, and do thou, oh Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell, Satan, and all the evil spirits throughout the world, seeking the root of souls. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen. Well, what caught your attention with that meditation, Teresa? I'm not very good at keeping plants alive.

I'm really bad at that. To the point where at this point, if I'm going to have anything in my house, it's going to be fake plants, but I'm kind of similar with looking at my own life and being like,

in concrete and I'm never watering and I'm never spending time in the sun or I'm just not doing

“the things that actually lead to those fruits. Because there's a lot of care taking that goes into”

plants. Even though it's funny, you watch how well plants thrive in the wild and then you try to grow a plant in your garden or at home and it feels impossible, but it's maybe it takes a little manure, maybe it takes a little work. You just can't be upset that these fruits, these changes in

your life, they're not happening when I spend most of the time wasting time or on my phone

and not feeding my mind, not feeding my soul, not feeding my relationships. So I'm kind of looking at how I can take care of myself like a plant now because it's just too often it's that we don't have the nutrients we need. Yes, which like you were saying is often manure, but it's also just good water, good sun, good things in our life. It kind of reminds me of the parallel you've talked about of going to mass and just really sitting before the Eucharist, sitting before Christ to like the

sun itself is pouring down on you and like focusing the sizing. It's just you just receive, but it we're not even doing that. How do we expect fruits to come from our life? Yeah. Well, it makes me think of two things. One, the soil in our lives,

“which I think is the way we spend our time. I think a really good way to reflect on how we spend our”

time is do something and then spend just a few moments and ask yourself, did that activity cause me to be happy about life? Did it cause me to be at peace and feel fulfilled? Or did it leave me empty? Maybe a little angry, a little down, a little anxious? Sure, daily performance for you. Yeah. Not even daily, but you're saying I like after every activity. Yeah. Because when I really think about it, I feel so good when I sit down and read a book and really give my whole mind to it

and I'm focused on it. I'm not picking up my phone, but for some reason I'm always putting that off.

And if I could really check my brain and think you like doing this, it's good for you. It produces fruits in your life. Exactly. What you're doing right now? It's not good for you. You don't actually like doing it. It's not producing fruits in your life. Exactly. I mean, I can't tell you we've all had this experience or on our phone or the news or we're scrolling or whatever and we get done, we're like, that was a waste. And then we do it again. And then we do it again.

“But here's the key. We don't learn by experience. We learn by reflecting our experience. So just a”

little short reflection. Did that leave me really fulfilled or not? And if it didn't, don't do it again, do something that does. It's a really simple way to bear fruit. It's kind of embarrassing that it only takes a minute of thought and I just don't give it a minute of thought. So that's a good resolution then. Just give it a minute of thought. Yeah. Well, thanks for the conversation. Thank you. Let's be apostles of friendship. Good conversation and the rosary. Share this with others.