Jesus said to his disciples, "A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit. For people do not pick figs from thornbushes, nor do they gather grapes from brambles. A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.
"Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' but do not do what I command? I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, listen to my words, and acts on them. That one is like a person building a house, who dug deeply and laid foundation on rock; when the flood came, the river burst against the house but could not shake it because it had been well built. But the one who listens and does not act is like a person who built a house without a foundation. When the river burst against it, it collapsed at once and was completely destroyed.
The Word in other words
Inside the Divine Word Retreat House in Sunnyside, Baguio City there is a grapefruit tree that bears robust fruits yearly. The puzzling thing is that these well-ripen fruits are bitter and sour. Even the ripe grapefruits fallen from the other side of the fence taste the same in spite of their "Davao pomelo-like" appearance. My wonderment came to a halt when one of the lay ministers at the Pink Sisters' Convent old me that bitter and sour grapefruits were common in the area because there was something wrong with the soil there.
The Lord in today's Gospel speaks of two similes, namely, that a good tree bearing good fruits is like a good person bearing good deeds and a person who listens to the Word is like a person who builds his house on a strong foundation. I therefore view the bitter grapefruits at the retreat house as due to untilled and untreated soil. Converting the soil to something productive would be like laying a foundation on a solid rock.
Today, the Lord is speaking of solid foundations in our lives. He is inviting each one of us to place our faith-foundation in him, the "Rock of all Ages." Faithful discipleship would then be the fruit we will bring about,
- Fr. Emil Pati, SVD(San Fernando, La Union)
