Robert Barron - Fruits of the Spirit, Works of the Flesh
Peace be with you. Friends, we come to the Feast of Pentecost along with Christmas and Easter and the greatest feast in the church year. The great celebration of the Holy Spirit. We remember that great day when the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. The people hear them in all their languages. It signals the commencement of a church and its great work, which continues to this day. The Holy Spirit, the love that connects the Father and the Son. From all eternity the Father speaks His word. That's the Son. The Son is the perfect image of the Father. They share the same substance, the same essence. The Father and Son look at one another and each sees utter perfection and therefore falls utterly in love. The love they breathe back and forth is the Holy Spirit, the Spiritus Sanctus, the Holy Breath. Sometimes the tradition refers to the Spirit as the Vinculum amoris, the chain of love, for that reason, the chain that connects the Father and the Son.
This is the power, everybody, that the Father and Son together breathe out into the life of the church. Everything else is commentary. Love. Love stands at the center of the Church's life because that's what the Holy Spirit is. So with that in mind, I want to focus on our second reading, which is, it's one of my favorite texts. I've used it for years in spiritual direction, in counseling. When people come to me seeking advice, especially about their vocation or their journey in life. "Father, what do I do? Bishop, what path should I take"? I'll often say, "Get your Bible out. Look in Galatians, Paul to the Galatians, Chapter Five".
What you find there are what to call the fruits of the Spirit. And I've said to people over the years, "Look at that list of the fruits of the spirit. Whatever path in life is giving rise to those? That's the one you want". And then we'll get to the works of the flesh, the opposite. Whatever's giving rise to that in you, stay away from it. So let me spend a little time today. It's Galatians Chapter Five, when you have your Bibles. Paul says, "The fruit of the spirit". So if you've got the spirit in you, this is the way it's going to manifest itself. Listen, "is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control".
Now, I might not be able to talk about each one of those, but let me say a few simple things. Notice first, the first fruit of the Holy Spirit, of course is love, because that's what the Holy Spirit is. Now, what is love? Not a feeling. Love is willing the good of the other. Nothing's more important. There is no clearer sign that the Holy Spirit is in you than love, willing the good of the other. Can I suggest, please, the end of the day when you're examining your conscience, there's the first question to ask. "How was I today in regard to love? Did I will the good of the other in every opportunity? And when did I miss that opportunity? When in the course of my day did I not will the good of another"?
That's the infallible sign that the Holy Spirit is operating within you. That's a really important point of demarcation. For me all my life has been enormously clarifying. Did I walk the path of love or not? There's the first one. Secondly, Paul says, "joy". And I've mentioned this to you before, I think. In the great spiritual masters the flag of the Holy Spirit is joy. Now joy doesn't mean like you're just giddy every minute. It means that deep abiding happiness, deeper than the surface of your life. And you know. You know when you meet somebody and they're radiating joy. And you know the opposite. There are people that suck the air out of the room.
There are people that are radiating the opposite of joy, who seem to spread unhappiness around them. They don't have the Holy Spirit. That's why joyless Christians, that's like a contradiction in terms. Steer clear of joyless Christians. Maybe I'll come back at the end, but people ask me about the internet sometimes, "Whom should I listen to on the internet"? Stay away from joyless people. They don't have the spirit in them. Take a look at the end of your day at the quality of your joy. If you're not experiencing that joy, maybe you're allowing too many things to take too central a place in your life. You're not allowing the Spirit to take deep root in you.
Here's the third one. So you have love, joy, peace. Now of course, peace. It's shalom in the Hebrew, eirênê he would've said in his Greek here. But that's a really powerful idea. It runs right through the Bible. It's what God has always wanted for His people. It means flourishing at every level. It means that sense of together, of integration. The Holy Spirit draws the elements of you into unity.
I've used that image before of the Rose Window. I've spoken of the scattering power of the demonic. Peace seems to me is that inner harmony, all the elements that make me you, my mind, my will, my passions, my powers, my relationships, my friendships, my public life, my private life, all of it hangs together. That's a fruit of the spirit, peace. Peace. Ask yourself the end of the day, "Am I at peace"?
Now, look, we all face problems. That's not the question. "Well, I never had any problems today or never any dilemmas or any difficulty". No, it doesn't mean that. It means despite all of it, do I experience this inner unity and harmony? That's a fruit of the Holy Spirit. I love what comes next. So we have love, joy, peace, patience. I'm not the most patient person in the world. I often find myself confessing impatience. What's impatience born of? It's born of a lack of love. If love means willing the good of the other, then your preoccupation is what's good for that person?
When I become impatient, it's because I'm preoccupied with me and what I want. It's not happening my way on my timetable and my terms, and so I get impatient with people around me. That's why patience is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. It means you're dominated by love. And I've known people in my life, saintly people, who really manifest this beautifully. They put up with a lot. One of the spiritual works of mercy is bearing patiently the troublesome. I'm bad at that, but it's a fruit of the spirit. When troublesome people who may be giving you a hard time, but you're able to demonstrate patience in their regard, that means love has taken deep root in you.
Kindness comes next. Kindness, basic decency, basic courtesy. I like the fact that the gestures of courtesy that we do, whether it's holding a door, it's letting someone exit an elevator first, it's holding a chair for somebody, it's helping with a coat, these little tiny gestures. But they're not tiny spiritually. They're expressive of a kindness which is born again of love. If my life is all about willing the good of the other, well then I'm going to be attentive to these little touches. Think of the kind people you've known in the course of your life that demonstrate these simple courtesies. That's a fruit of the Holy Spirit.
How about generosity? That's a lovely word, isn't it? And an even more lovely reality. When someone's generous, they give. So many of us sinners we think life's all about hanging onto things. "Give it to me. Don't let go. You worked hard for this. Hang onto it". But if love has taken root in you, willing the good of the other, well of course you become generous with what you have, just as God is generous with His love. I've said before, and it's a basic spiritual principle, it's a beautiful paradox that the more generous you are, the more you give, the more grace you receive, which then you are meant to give away again and then you receive more. That's the generous person. We all know people like that.
How about just one more? Self-control Paul talks about. That's really important. Look, if you're a person of love, you want the good of the other. What do you do? Well, then you get yourself under control because if your passions are disordered and your hang-ups are on display all the time and you're expressing your frustration, your anger, you're out of control. And that means you're doing harm to people around you. That's why self-control is not some kind of puritanism or it's not some repression. No, no. It's the controlling of my passions and my preoccupations that I might become a vehicle of love to others.
I worry a lot, everybody, especially with our young people, that our culture keeps telling them, "No, no, no, just express yourself. Don't buy into these old hang-ups". No, no, no. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is a self-control that allows you fully to love the other. I mean, even as I talk about it now, it's funny how this text has worked its way into my own heart. How powerful all this is. How powerful these are. If you're struggling, you're wondering, "What path do I take"?
Look at these. What's giving rise to these? That's the path you want. Now, just a few. I got a couple minutes left. Paul contrasts the fruits of the spirit to what he calls the works of the flesh. Again, he's not down on the body. Flesh here is using kind of as a symbol for what's opposed to the Holy Spirit. What are they? Well, look, first, immorality, impurity, and lust. Yeah, you bet. If your sexual desires are out of control, then you're going to be trying to use them to satisfy yourself. That's why this is not Puritanism. This is good Holy Spirit language.
If you don't have your sexual passions under some kind of control, you will not be able to channel your sexual energy in the direction of love. I hope that makes sense, everybody, because again, our culture is saying the opposite all the time. No, no, unleash. Unleash all your sexual energies. God help us. And haven't we seen it? Haven't we seen it in our culture when that is allowed to happen anything but love is on display. So he's dead right about that. Idolatry is a work of the flesh. You see why. Because the true God is the God whose name is love. Every other God is a false God.
So you make an ultimate reality out of anything but the true God? You are going to fall into the opposite of love. Whether you're worshiping fallen gods, you're worshiping money or sex or power or your country or anything else? That's idolatry and that means the opposite of love is going to become most important to you. Hatreds, rivalry, jealousy. Sound familiar, fellow sinners? I mean, we are all susceptible to this. If I say my life's about me, it's about satisfying my desires, well then I'm always going to be falling into hatreds, rivalries, and jealousies because he's getting more attention. He's getting more love than I am. He's succeeding and I'm not.
And so I'm angry all the time. I'm jealous all the time. Everyone's a rival to me. Well see what that means is you're not possessed by the Holy Spirit. You're possessed by another spirit that's making you self-preoccupied. How about dissensions, factions, occasions of envy. Again, think about the online world. "Hey, who should I listen to, Bishop"? Watch people who are stirring this stuff up. Dissensions, factions, occasions of envy. Don't follow them. Those are the works of the flesh, not the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
And then here's the last thing he mentions. Drinking bouts, orgies, and the like. You say, "What's the matter with having a drink once in a while"? That's not what he's talking about. Drinking bouts mean I'm out of control. I don't have my sensual life in order at all. And drinking, drug addiction, all these different forms, you don't think they cause trouble in our society? Then you're blind. Paul knew it 2000 years ago. They're a sign that I'm not possessed by the Holy Spirit.
And orgies and the like, again, this uncontrolled expression of sexual desire. Ay yi yi, don't you tell me that's some kind of liberating force. It is not. It means you're possessed by the opposite of the spirit of true love, willing the good of the other. So on this Pentecost, open our hearts, everybody, open our hearts to the incoming of the Holy Spirit, the love that connects the Father and the Son. And then if we do that, we can allow these fruits of the Holy Spirit to express themselves. And God bless you.