Feast of Saint Dominic Henares (25 June 2008)

Last week, a friend who was visiting me and I were went to our local farmers’ market to get some fresh fruit and vegetables. I had been there only once before, and it was an eye-opening experience. There are a number of rather attractive buildings in a pleasant, park-like setting. When all the doors are open to the outside, they are more like sheds than ordinary buildings, because all four sides are open to the elements.As we wandered among the many tables in the various buildings, we saw a great deal of fresh fruit and vegetables. Baskets of beautiful peaches, pears, cherries, piles of watermelons, cantaloupes, blueberries, various kinds of squash, corn still in the husks. It was colorful and very inviting. And I noticed that the attitude of those people who were selling all this appetizing array of food was friendly, pleasant, good-natured. They seemed to be made happy by the abundance of the produce they were selling.

In the gospel for today’s Mass, Our Divine Lord tells us, “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit . . . by their fruits you will know them.” These words are taken from the Sermon on the Mount in St. Matthew’s gospel. And if we are at all perceptive, we can allow a farmers’ market with all its abundance to remind us of these words of Our Lord. The people who grew all those things for sale in the farmers’ market did so in order to have good fruit and vegetables to sell. They planted peach and cherry trees, watermelon and canteloupe vines, blackberry and blueberry bushes, and they expected these plants to produce not only GOOD fruit but an abundance of it.

God our Father has planted you and me in the garden or orchard of his kingdom. He expects us to bear fruit. What kind of fruit? Love of Him, love of our neighbor, prayer, kindness to others, the desire to be of help to others, the virtuous life that speaks so eloquently of our quality of the Christian life. These are the fruits which our Creator and Savior wants to find in our lives. Think about it. Are you bearing good fruit and a lot of it? Is God pleased with the return that you are producing on the investment that he has made in you? If possible, make this meditation in a farmers’ market! Thank you for seeking God’s truth. God bless you. Father Victor Brown, O.P.