Saturday of the Twenty-Ninth Week in Ordinary Time Yr 1 2025

Title

Fruit and Freedom

Outline

I have gone through Exodus90 this past year for one main reason

I have found through life in general and especially in hearing confessions that many people are bound by the flesh in one way or another rather than living in the freedom promises to the sons and daughters of God. I keep looking for ways of helping people break free.

Now Exodus90 is a men’s movement within the Catholic Church and while many religious experience it (I know of a Benedictine abby that uses it as one aspect of their novitiate) it is lay oriented. But its principles of meditation on scripture, prayer, asceticism, and even celebration (especially on Sundays) and the like would be familiar to you if not exactly your rule. However, our readings show some universal principles that Exodus90 could be an example of.

First, our Gospel tells us that we need metanoia not more vigor by our effort

The Gospel is, as Bp Barron put it memorably, Jesus Christ risen from the dead. It is a person, a Lord, who will totally reorient our lives. Thus the Galilean pilgrims were better at Judaism, not worse than others, but what all of them needed was the reorientation of repentance, a reorientation towards Jesus. Likewise all of people who lived in Jerusalem need to orient on Jesus or else they would and did perish in AD 66-70. The tree has to bear fruit, but that means, not effort, but living out of the gardener’s care and according to its true nature. Repentance, reorientation, refocusing is our lifelong discipline. We are baptized into Jesus, feed on Jesus, and are filled with the Spirit of Jesus. As we focus on taking in these nutrients and living this love more and more we become like Jesus. The disciplines of the Catholic faith are aimed in this direction; they are not independent means to become good. Likewise Mary points us to Jesus and helps us become one with him and that is why she is so important.

Second, our first reading gives the theological basis for this way of life

If we try to become better simply by trying harder we are trying to us “the law of sin and death” in one way to free us from the “flesh” or “the law of sin and death.” It is like beating a kid to try and make him good. Negative reinforcement like that is ultimately inefficient and often just makes them do worse, but more covertly. Rather we need to “live not according to the flesh but according to the spirit.” Jesus has freed us from the cycle of sin by overcoming sin and temptation in his own flesh. So we learn to watch our thoughts so that rather than thinking about and ruminating on the ways of this world we live and think from the power of the Spirit in us and that means constantly turning our thoughts towards Jesus, how he lived, how he still lives, how he is calling us to live. The positive vision draws us to love and peace, for it draws us to Jesus.

This takes discipline, the discipline of constantly turning the mind to where Jesus is in our situation. Of course, we stumble and fall, for with respect to eternity we are all toddlers. The point for the toddler who falls is to get up and get going agin. In the East the discipline became that of the Jesus Prayer constantly turning minds to Jesus. In the West it has been rosary as well as some other prayers used with adoration that have been found useful. The point is to push the thoughts of the flesh out of our minds because we are constantly focused on Jesus. It is work, but the goal is that the “sap” of the Spirit, the life of Christ, flowing through us as we raise every thought to him helps us to naturally bear fruit, which is life both for ourselves and others.

You likely knew all that

But the texts seek to remind us and we sometimes get discouraged an need a reminder and, finally, we need to be teaching a Christ-centered orientation to others so that they too are moving towards freedom.