“Live for me and I will make your life fruitful for many” (Interior Word).
The fruitfulness of our way of following Christ depends less on our own efforts than on our union with the Father. Without downplaying the importance of our own contribution, we need to internalise again and again the spiritual hierarchy of life. This is not so easy for us humans to understand, because in a society based on efficiency, the value of contemplation is hardly recognised. Rather, the prestige acquired in such a “meritocracy” is measured by the abundance of achievements, knowledge, material gains, etc. We are often marked by these criteria.
In the Kingdom of our Father, however, the measure is different. What counts here is the quality of the love with which we do things. How righteous this measure is, for on the basis of it every person can find great favour with God! Perhaps they will even gain prestige among people who are able to recognise their love.
The secret of the fruitfulness of our life – which only our Father knows in its entirety – is therefore our union with Him. When we abandon our life and enter into His life – or rather, when our Father’s life penetrates ours – it is the Lord Himself who, through us and with our collaboration, bestows His grace on humanity. In fact, God’s love wants to reach all people, and He wants to do it specifically through us with those who cross our path.
Of course, He does not always succeed. In the first place, because we are not yet so well disposed and finely tuned instruments of His grace; in the second place, because the acceptance of God’s love requires the “yes” of the person in question.
But our gaze is fixed on the Father: “Live for me”, He says to us. Day by day, hour by hour. In this way our life will be fruitful.