Fruitful Discipleship. Sherry A. Weddell

at the parish or local level? If so, ask how those experiences are affecting him or her. If your friend is not yet involved, help him or her get connected.

       A World in Spiritual Motion

      I find it enormously helpful to keep reminding myself that everyone I meet is in spiritual motion. A man could essentially sleepwalk through his baptism because he fell in love with a Catholic girl and was jumping through the hoops of the RCIA process just to please his future in-laws. Then ten years later, he can experience a massive conversion and awaken to the power of the Gospel in amazing ways. Meanwhile, one of his friends might go through a period of spiritual fervor in high school and then lose interest while in college and walk away from both Jesus and his Catholic identity. Both possibilities (and many, many others) are present throughout our lives. St. Thomas Aquinas describes it this way: One can seek intentionally to grow in grace after baptism while another, through postbaptismal negligence, “baffles grace.”¹²

      It seems incredible that puny human beings can baffle the grace of God by our lack of cooperation, but it is true. And to the extent that we do, we will bear little or no fruit. A classic observation by St. Francis de Sales is an essential corrective if we are going to live the lifelong conversion known as discipleship:

      I am glad that you make a daily new beginning; there is no better means of progress in the spiritual life than to be continually beginning afresh.¹³

       Lack of Prayer Is an Obstacle

      One very significant obstacle to fruit-bearing is lack of prayer, which is at the heart of a relationship with God. Without prayer, all of our activity risks being fruitless. Recall that the seed in the parable dies not only when the birds eat it or when it falls on barren soil, but when it is choked by thorns that are “worldly anxiety, the lure of riches, and the craving for other things” (Mark 4:19).

      That is why Pope Francis urges:

      Let us call upon him today, firmly rooted in prayer, for without prayer all our activity risks being fruitless and our message empty. Jesus wants evangelizers who proclaim the good news not only with words but above all by a life transfigured by God’s presence.¹⁴

       Disciple-Makers as Fruit-Farmers

      The Catechism tells us:

      The fruit of sacramental life is both personal and ecclesial. For every one of the faithful on the one hand, this fruit is life for God in Christ Jesus; for the Church, on the other, it is an increase in charity and in her mission of witness. (CCC 1134)

      For every one of us, the fruit we bear has a profound impact on our personal maturation and holiness as disciples in Christ. But your fruit also increases the evangelical capacity of the whole Church: her love and ability to bear witness to Christ. The mission and compassion of the whole Church is fueled by your fruit. Today’s “nones” and “former Catholics” are seldom interested in our insider debates but are really intrigued and moved by the fruit that Christians bear. The fruit we bear “reveals” the presence and the love of God. Our fruit builds powerful bridges of spiritual trust and rouses spiritual curiosity. In the communion of saints, your fruit belongs to and somehow touches every other baptized person. But it is also true that the fruit that we were anointed by the Holy Spirit to bear but do not bear is a profound loss to both the Church and the world. In the economy of God, your fruit, my fruit, and the fruit borne by the whole Church is both a form of prayer and an answer to the world’s prayers.

      There is someone out there right now who is waiting for what you have been given to give, and their life, their spiritual and personal destiny, hangs in the balance. You may not have met them yet. They may not even have been born yet, but in God’s providence, you are the one. It matters that you say “yes.”

      So, what does this mean for those of us serving in some form of pastoral leadership? What does it mean to lead, to pastor, to govern a community of missionary disciples and fruit-bearers? Pope St. John Paul II describes it this way:

      This munus regendi [governance] represents a very delicate and complex duty which, in addition to the attention which must be given to a variety of persons and their vocations, also involves the ability to coordinate all the gifts and charisms which the Spirit inspires in the community, to discern them and to put them to good use for the upbuilding of the Church in constant union with the bishops.¹⁵

      All Catholic leaders — ordained or not — are, in a real way, called to be fruit-farmers, not just spiritual seed-scatterers. Everything we do is for the sake of producing an abundant harvest. Sustained, intentional evangelization changes everything by enriching the spiritual soil of individuals, families, and whole parish communities. Making disciples creates the conditions that will enable our sacramental seeds, which are filled with the life of God, to germinate, grow, and bear a rich harvest of fruit that will nourish the Church and bring Christ to the world.

      ¹ 2590 Karpos, Strong’s Concordance (online at http://biblehub.com/greek/2590.htm, as of May 5, 2017).

      ² See Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), 1832.

      ³ Lewis, The Weight of Glory, p. 29.

      ⁴ See Pope St. John Paul II, Christifideles Laici (on the vocation and mission of the laity), 16 (online at http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_30121988_christifideles-laici.html, as of May 5, 2017).

      ⁵ Carey Lodge, “John Wesley: 10 Quotes on Faith, Evangelism, and Putting God First,” Christian Today, June 28, 2016 (online at http://www.christiantoday.com/article/john.wesley.10.quotes.on.faith.evangelism.and.putting.god.first/89402.htm, as of May 5, 2017).

      ⁶ Pope St. John Paul II, Christifideles Laici, 32.

      ⁷ Ibid., 57.

      ⁸ Ludwig Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma (Charlotte, NC: TAN Books, 2009), p. 330.

      ⁹ Dom Anscar Vonier, A Key to the Doctrine of the Eucharist (Assumption Press, 2013), p. 3, emphasis added.

      ¹⁰ For more on the threshold of openness, read pp. 155-166 in Forming Intentional Disciples.

      ¹¹ For more about how to have a threshold conversation, read pp. 191-199 in Forming Intentional Disciples.

      ¹² St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, III, q69, a8 (online at http://www.newadvent.org/summa/4069.htm#article8, as of May 5, 2017).

      ¹³ St. Francis de Sales, “To a Lady. On the Distractions of a Busy Life. May 19, 1609,” in A Selection from the Spiritual Letters of St. Francis de Sales, translated by H. L. Sidney Lear (New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1876), p. 122.

      ¹⁴ Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, 259.

      ¹⁵ Pope St. John Paul II, Pastores Dabo Vobis, 26.

      Chapter 3

      The Undaunted Fruit-Farmer

      He changed the desert into pools of water,

      arid land into springs of water,

       And settled the hungry there;

      they built a city to live in.

      They sowed fields and planted vineyards,