Victor R. Claveau, MJ
See CCC §1832
The fruits of the Spirit are perfections that the Holy Spirit forms in us as the first fruits of eternal glory.
Charity, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Generosity, Gentleness, Faithfulness, Modesty, Self-control, and Chastity. (See Galatians 5:22-23.)
Living a spiritual life — which we are all striving to do in varying degrees — bears witness to the fact that we belong to God as his beloved children. This witness involves us completely; it involves every aspect of our lives as Paul the Apostle says in Romans 10:31: “Whatever you eat, then, or drink, and whatever else you do, do it all for the glory of God.” This is to truly live in communion with God’s Spirit. And if we truly live in communion with God’s Spirit, then that Spirit will manifest itself through us in all that we do and say. We refer to this manifestation of God’s Spirit within us as the fruit of God’s Spirit. The way God’s Spirit manifests itself most convincingly is through its fruit. Saint Paul in Galatians names the fruits of God’s Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” The fruits of God’s Spirit really speak for themselves. When we manifest them in our lives, especially in the ways we relate to one another, they become the manifestation of God’s presence in the world.
For our part, when we express in our lives these fruits of God’s Spirit, we expect they will have some sort of influence on the world we live in, or at least on that small portion of the world we inhabit. We want to be productive; we want to see the tangible results of our work. But oftentimes, and unfortunately, we are disappointed with the results of our efforts; sometimes our efforts seem to be a waste of time as far as others are concerned. This, of course, can bring on discouragement in our practice of virtue; we can become weary of the battle. It is at times like these that we must turn to Christ — to Jesus himself who died as a failure on a cross; to all appearances there was no success there to be proud of. Still, the fruitfulness of Jesus’ life is beyond any human measure. Jesus was, indeed, the ultimate manifestation of the fruits of his Father’s Spirit. And we, as faithful witnesses of Jesus, must trust that our lives too will be fruitful, even though we cannot always see the fruit. Indeed, like Moses who led his people to the Promised Land but was not allowed to enter it himself, we may never see the fruit of our lives for it may only become visible to those who live after us. What is important in the present time is how well we love. We must leave the rest up to God, faithfully trusting that he will make our love fruitful, whether we actually see that fruitfulness or not.