Bearing fruit Christ the King, Thy Kingdom come! I hope that everyone had a fantastic Easter and Holy Week and that Christ has opened your hearts to His great sacrifice. The Lord has blessed us with His resurrection! What is our faith without it? It’s amazing how much God loves us. To create us in His image. Forgive our unending sins. To send His spirit into a worldly body to show us the love of our Creator. Then, to show us that love isn’t without sacrifice. He gave us His son, at the obedience and service of Our Lady, so that He could be scourged, humiliated, and sent to His death on a cross for OUR sins. For every judgment we make, He hung. For every curse and doubt we throw at God, He hung. For the murderers, the thieves, the irreverent, He hung. With Mary and Christ’s “yes” we are given salvation, a chance to be worthy of the promises of Christ. God loves us SO much despite our human error that He wishes for us to be holy so that we can reunite with Him in the Kingdom of Heaven. That is His promise to us—eternal union. What does God ask in return? That we may suffer as Christ did to experience the joy of holiness and an intimacy with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. If God Himself, Our Creator!, can humble Himself to undergo three hours of suffocation on the cross, can we not do ALL things through faith in Him? In all of our sufferings, it is through His suffering that we can gain strength. If my Lord can overcome the grave, I can overcome any trials! Truthfully, the love of our God is one of sacrifice and giving; it is agape, looking for the good of all mankind. And though we as humans are more often the representation of eros, a desire to possess what we are lacking, we are also capable of agape. Alternately, God, too, is eros. What could God possibly lack? The Alpha, the Omega, our Creator…does He not possess all things? He desires to possess us. He desires our yes! Having the true heart of a father, God seeks out our hearts, that we may use the free will He’s given us to choose Him. When we do choose Him, we should strive to please Him, the One who created us. By bearing fruits, using our God-given talents and answering His call, we please Him, and simultaneously we find joy in Him. God asks us to bear fruit. Sometimes we bear no fruits for our Lord and our faith dries up. It isn’t sufficient to accept His love. It’s easy to say, “God loves me.” Do you love God? We need to respond to His love, to draw ourselves to the Lord in prayer, in faith, and in deeds. If we offer nothing to God, we, like the fig tree in Matthew, will wither away. The Cursing of the Fig Tree (Matthew 21:18-22): When He was going back to the city in the morning, He was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, He went over to it, but found nothing on it except leaves. And He said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again.” And immediately the fig tree withered. When the disciples saw this, they were amazed and said, “How was it that the fig tree withered immediately?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Amen, I say to you, if you have faith and do not waver, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done. Whatever you ask for in prayer WITH FAITH, you will receive.” All things can be done through faith. Don’t be like the withered fig tree that does not satisfy the Lord’s hunger. Bear fruits! And see how your faith increases exponentially. Lord Jesus: I give you my hands to work with love. I give you my feet, to follow your way, decisively. I give you my eyes, Lord, to see the needs of the world. I give you my tongue to speak your words of charity. I give you my mind to know and spread your message. I give you my spirit to continue your prayer. Above all, I give you my heart, so that all I do will reflect the great love you have for your Father and for us. I give you all that I am so that you can take over, and that it will be you who live, work, and speak through me. | 
