June 25: Good Trees / Árboles Buenos

“Every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.” Matthew 7, 15-20

It sounds like such a simple observation, but “trees don’t tell lies.” They are not politicians or advertisers. They are not two-faced. The outside of a tree does not contradict the inside or try to make it look better than it is. Do you think this might be why it is so restful and so healing to walk through a forest or anywhere else in nature? Aren’t all the creatures there innocent, simple, and truthful?

Back to the Gospel, the fruit is the plain truth about the tree, and everyone can see it and test it, tasting it for themselves. Likewise human action: everything becomes visible sooner or later.

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There is an early Christian writing (from end of the 1st century) attributed to St. Clement of Rome: “When the Lord Himself was asked by someone when His kingdom would come, He said: ‘When the two shall be one, the outside as the inside....’ By that He meant that the inside which is the soul, and the outside which is the body.”

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Jesús, en Mateo 7, 15-20, nos dice que el árbol que da buenos frutos es un árbol bueno. Frutos buenos a los que Dios nos llama son consecuencia de la cooperación de nuestra libertad y la gracia de Dios.

Que la savia del Evangelio de Jesús, su unión con nosotros y nuestra intimidad con Él corran sin cesar por nuestras venas. Así daremos frutos de justicia, misericordia, y amor, con la bendición de Dios.