Bill Berger

In today’s gospel Jesus turns his attention to fruit trees.  He tells his disciples that every tree is known by its fruit.

But in a relatively short period of time, I came to realize that Father Ronan’s simple but profound statement would turn out to be one of the pivotal events of my spiritual life.

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus relates to the large crowd gathered around him the challenges of producing good harvests.

Today’s gospel reading from the Chapter 16 of John’s gospel is a continuation of a series of chapters entitled Last Supper Discourses that are inserted between the end of the Last Supper in Chapter 13 and the arrest of Jesus in Chapter 18. 

“Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 

...am I able to turn my back on the evil in the world and foster the Kingdom of God through my own acts of love, kindness and mercy.