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STEP38: Chosen To Bear Fruit

"You did not choose Me; it was I who chose you and sent you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. And everything you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. This is My command, that you love one another." (John 15:16-17)

*From Christian Community Bible (Catholic Pastoral Edition):

Each one has to bear fruit. Jesus does not specify what these fruits should be: whether service, understanding, action for social justice, or a life silently offered to God. Rather, He insists that these fruits should come from the Spirit and bear His proper seal. The success of the Church is not measured by its achievements, but by the progress of those who interiorize Christ's mystery and share in His cross and resurrection.  

After making it clear that we depend totally on Him, Jesus repeats His commandment of love. There is a necessary order in building the Christian life. 

If from the start we say: We should love our neighbor because this is the only commandment, we will achieve nothing; because each one understands love in his own way, while not having as yet interiorized the thinking of Christ. Moreover, we need to receive from the source of all love the ability to love selflessly. Christ asks us to first share His thinking: that is what the expression, keep My commandments means. Thus we become His friends, knowing Him as a person who loves us and acts in us. Later we will produce the authentic fruit of love, whose source is Christ. 


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