Today’s Reflection
Gospel: Luke 6: 43-49
September 13, 2025 | Saturday

Today’s Gospel

No healthy tree bears bad fruit, no poor tree bears good fruit. And each tree is known by the fruit it bears: you don’t gather figs from thorns, or grapes from brambles. Similarly, the good person draws good things from the good stored in his heart, and an evil person draws evil things from the evil stored in his heart. For the mouth speaks from the fullness of the heart.

Why do you call me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not do what I say? I will show you what the one is like, who comes to me, and listens to my words, and acts accordingly. That person is like the builder who dug deep, and laid the foundations of his house on rock. The river over flowed, and the stream dashed against the house, but could not carry it off because the house had been well built.

But the one who listens and does not act, is like a man who built his house on the ground without a foundation. The flood burst against it, and the house fell at once: and what a terrible disaster that was!”

Today’s Reflection

Our integrity as persons springs from the consonance of the external and internal aspects of our being. Otherwise, we are hypocrites. A preacher once shared that grape juice comes from grapes, and orange juice comes from oranges. These fruits, when squeezed, give out what is properly theirs: their respective juices. What comes from us when a person is squeezed by problems, hardships, trials, and many other things? In our Gospel today, Jesus asks us to be of integrity as his disciples. Are our hearts filled with love for God that we remain faithful to Him even when shut in a corner with nowhere to go? Or do we immediately abandon the Lord? We have the task of making our faith and our life grow so that what is inside of us becomes manifested outside and so that what we show externally can be an expression of what is in our hearts. As the saying goes, ‘From the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.’ What is within eventually comes out. When such a time comes, may we be found whole, intact, with integrity of heart and body, mind and soul. May we dig deep for our faith- foundation and build high on what has been given solid grounding within.

/Vulnerasti, 2025