How important is fruit-bearing to the drama of redemption? I was amazed to realize that St. Paul described it as one of the central purposes of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead:
In the same way, my brothers, you also were put to death to the law through the body of Christ so that you might belong to another, to the one who was raised from the dead in order that we might bear fruit for God. (Romans 7:4, emphasis added)
Fruit-bearing is the primary indicator that everything that Christ accomplished for us is actually reaching us, penetrating, and changing us. Bearing fruit is the sign that salvation has come to our house and is actually occurring in our lives.
No wonder Pope St. John Paul II said:
Bearing fruit is an essential demand of life in Christ and life in the Church. The person who does not bear fruit does not remain in communion: “Each branch of mine that bears no fruit, he (my Father) takes away” (Jn 15:2).6
That is also why he reminded us:
People are approached in liberty by God who calls everyone to grow, develop and bear fruit. A person cannot put off a response nor cast off personal responsibility in the matter. The solemn words of Jesus refer to this exalted and serious responsibility: “If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned” (Jn 15:6).7
Obstacles to Fruit-Bearing
Dogmatic theologian Ludwig Ott summed up the interior dynamic of fruit-bearing this way: “the subjective disposition of the recipient is … the indispensable pre-condition of the communication of grace.”8
Infants cannot put obstacles in the way of receiving grace, but older children, teens, and adults certainly can. The obstacles that can block the ultimate fruitfulness of valid sacraments include:
• Lack of personal faith.
• Lack of understanding.
• Lack of a desire to live a new life.
• Lack of repentance.
In his classic book, A Key to the Doctrine of the Eucharist, Abbot Vonier uses a powerful image to convey how obstacles can block the living impact of graces that we have objectively received:
[It is] a favorite idea of St. Thomas, that faith is truly a contact with Christ…. Without this contact of faith, we are dead unto Christ, the stream of his life passes us by without entering into us, as a rock in the midst of a river remains unaffected by the turbulent rush of waters…. Till the contact of faith be established, the great redemption has not become our redemption; the things of Christ are not ours in any true sense.9
Catholic Identity and Fruitfulness
It is important that we understand that what is sometimes called “Catholic identity” is not necessarily an expression of living faith or discipleship. In an ideal world, personal faith and discipleship would always form the center of one’s Catholic identity. But in our generation, many Western people who still hold on to the name “Catholic” are functional agnostics or atheists — even if they occasionally drop by a parish. Catholic identity alone will not produce genuine fruit. Jews who presumed their spiritual status was assured because they were born to Jewish parents were schooled by John the Baptist in no uncertain terms — terms that apply just as much to us:
“Produce good fruits as evidence of your repentance; and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones. Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Luke 3:8-9)
Being active in your parish is not a guarantee either. You and I can be very active in our parish as catechists, musicians, members of the RCIA team, or the finance council. We can run capital campaigns, serve as ushers, and help with parish festivals. But all that activity is not necessarily fruit just because it takes place in a religious setting.
Fruit-bearing always emerges out of a growing relationship with God. Bearing spiritual fruit occurs when we act because we are seeking, however haltingly, to say “yes” to God’s love, grace, inspiration, or command. It can be difficult for devoted Catholics to believe that there are people who do not serve in church settings out of a personal faith. I was stunned when I first met active Catholics who told me they had no relationship with God.
For instance, I once attended an invitation-only national evangelization conference where a middle-aged man I didn’t know walked up to me at the first break. He startled me when he said “Until I read your book last month, I did not know it was possible to have a personal relationship with God.” That was not the sort of thing I expected to hear in a gathering like that!
This man was obviously a good guy and a highly committed Catholic. In fact, he was in full-time ministry forming clergy. So I asked him to help me understand why he thought he had not known that he could have a relationship with God. He said he was raised in a faithful, practicing Catholic family, but no one had ever talked about a relationship with God. He just had not known it was possible.
Since Forming Intentional Disciples was published, I have had similar conversations all over the world with bishops, seminary faculty, priests, religious, and lay leaders. They told me that when they were ordained or took final vows or began ministry, they had not been intentional disciples … but they were now. The fun part was hearing the amazing stories of encounter and how following Jesus had transformed their lives and ministries.
In every parish that is beginning to evangelize, the issue of leaders who are not yet disciples naturally emerges — as it should. One friend who is in parish ministry told me that staff members are coming to him acknowledging, “I am not a disciple yet.” What he reported and I have also witnessed is that most Catholics who come to this awareness don’t feel judged or a failure. They are just becoming aware of new spiritual possibilities. They are interested, open, and hungry, but they don’t know what to do.
When this happens, here are some suggestions that my friend and I have found useful:
1. Leave the conversation open-ended so that you can return to it. Offer to meet again if possible.
2. Pray right there and then if the individual is comfortable. I find that helping people to pray out loud and to acknowledge to God that they are open to spiritual and personal change and ready for more is very powerful. You are helping someone cross into the threshold of openness, a transition that can be very difficult.10 In my experience, God always answers that prayer in a powerful way.
3. If a solid trust exists between the two of you, and you have the time and privacy, consider having a threshold conversation. Threshold conversations are very simple, open-ended spiritual conversations — a kind of listening evangelization that helps you get a sense of where people have been in their spiritual journey and where they are now. You can have a meaningful threshold conversation in ten minutes — or much longer, depending upon what your friend has to say! A simple way to broach the topic is to say that if your friend feels comfortable, you would love to hear the story of his or her lived relationship or experience of God to this point in life. If people are willing to tell you their story, your job is to listen intently to understand what that journey has been like from their perspective.11 We have seen people move through whole thresholds just by telling their story to someone who really listened.
4. Look for individuals to whom the seeker is close and who are spiritually farther along and help those friends reach out to support this individual as he or she grows closer to Jesus.
5. Is this individual already involved with or attending existing evangelization experiences,