Are we all exercising the gifts of the Holy Spirit given to us all at baptism and rekindled, set ablaze by our confirmation? Or for many sisters and brothers during a baptism of the Holy Spirit after LISS (Life in The Spirit Seminar), a retreat and so on.

If we are, then we know just how powerful and wonderful it is to be instruments of His grace for one another; as we build up His Church, His Kingdom! During a recent zoom meeting we were broken off into small groups of two or three and asked to pray, then discern a message from God for one another. I was grouped with a beautiful couple in the US. The wife said this to me, “I see you searching, and searching, like someone looking hard to find jewels here and there. But here’s the thing, you do not need or lack of anything, you already have it all.” She by exercising the gift she had received from Holy Spirit gave me great hope, strength, courage, even empowerment by that ‘simple’ message. I would go on the next day to step out in faith and pray for a sister who needed physical healing.

So, if Jesus came in person today to see us, will He find fruit?

Jesus my friend, my Lord and Saviour, grant me more of You in my life. So that through and with You I will always bear much fruit for You. Glory and Praise to You O Lord. Amen

Saint John Paul II, Pope pray for us…

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First reading

Ephesians 4:7-16 ·

By grace, we shall not be children any longer

Each one of us has been given his own share of grace, given as Christ allotted it. It was said that he would:

When he ascended to the height, he captured prisoners,

he gave gifts to men.

When it says, ‘he ascended’, what can it mean if not that he descended right down to the lower regions of the earth? The one who rose higher than all the heavens to fill all things is none other than the one who descended. And to some, his gift was that they should be apostles; to some, prophets; to some, evangelists; to some, pastors and teachers; so that the saints together make a unity in the work of service, building up the body of Christ. In this way we are all to come to unity in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God, until we become the perfect Man, fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself.

    Then we shall not be children any longer, or tossed one way and another and carried along by every wind of doctrine, at the mercy of all the tricks men play and their cleverness in practising deceit. If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to its function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love.

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Gospel

Luke 13:1-9

‘Leave the fig tree one more year’

Some people arrived and told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with that of their sacrifices. At this he said to them, ‘Do you suppose these Galileans who suffered like that were greater sinners than any other Galileans? They were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen on whom the tower at Siloam fell and killed them? Do you suppose that they were more guilty than all the other people living in Jerusalem? They were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did.’

    He told this parable: ‘A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it but found none. He said to the man who looked after the vineyard, “Look here, for three years now I have been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and finding none. Cut it down: why should it be taking up the ground?” “Sir,” the man replied “leave it one more year and give me time to dig round it and manure it: it may bear fruit next year; if not, then you can cut it down.”’