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(Sir.27:4-7;\xa0\xa0 Ps.92:2-3,13-16;\xa0\xa0 1Cor.15:54-58;\xa0\xa0 Lk.6:39-45) \u201cBe firm, steadfast, \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0always fully devoted to the work of the Lord.\u201d \xa0 \xa0 \xa0Brothers and sisters, \u201cin the Lord your labor is not in vain,\u201d for \u201cthe just one shall flourish like the palm tree, like a cedar of Lebanon shall he grow.\u201d If you are \u201cplanted in the house of the Lord,\u201d \u201cvigorous and sturdy\u201d shall you ever be, \u201cbear[ing] fruit even in old age.\u201d You shall remove \u201cthe wooden beam\u201d that plagues your eye and thus find the vision to remove the splinter from the eye of your brother. You will be like your teacher, like the Lord, sharing in the power only He possesses. \xa0 \xa0 \xa0\u201cWhen fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher.\u201d And we must be trained, we must be tested in tribulation, molded in the furnace of the Lord\u2019s chastising Word. We must know that \u201ca good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit,\u201d and so if there is rottenness come from us, we must cast it in the fire. For only goodness should be born from the store of our heart, and that in abundance, else how shall we be called disciples of Jesus\u2026 how shall we be like Him in every way? Falling short of His perfection will not get us where we want to be: we must see that \u201cthis which is corruptible clothes itself with incorruptibility.\u201d \xa0 \xa0 \xa0Our readings today equate work with speech, the quintessential human activity, one which indeed shows \u201cthe bent of one\u2019s mind.\u201d And so when the Lord says, \u201cFrom the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks,\u201d He indicates not only the words passing our lips but all the actions that follow in their wake. By these fruits, as by our words, shall we be tested and judged. Thus must our hearts and our words and all our actions be founded in Jesus, the tree of life. \xa0 \xa0 \xa0\u201cThe fruit of a tree shows the care it has had.\u201d Only by a man\u2019s fruit shall you know him. And what does your fruit speak of you? What does your speech reveal? Do you \u201csing praise to [the Lord\u2019s] name\u201d in all you do; do you declare the glory of the \u201cMost High\u201d with every word? Brothers and sisters, only what is hard and true is lasting; only what is rooted in Him can stand the test of holy fire. Perform all your labor according to the mold Christ prepares, and your fruit shall reach unto heaven. Written, read, and chanted by James Kurt. Music: "Branch of the Vine" from Loving Spirit, third album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, remove the wooden beam from our eye that we might praise you with all our lives. \xa0 \xa0 \xa0YHWH, let us be fully devoted to your work and our labor will not be in vain. Rather, planted in your House, we shall flourish and bear fruit even in old age. O let us produce good from a good heart! \xa0 \xa0 \xa0Indeed, it is of the heart the mouth speaks; from what is in our heart come our words and all our actions. And so, how much do we need you to be present within us, O LORD; without your Son how shall we find victory over sin and death, which so pervade this dark place and hover before our eyes? \xa0 \xa0 \xa0Let us not be blind, dear LORD. Let us not fail to recognize our faults, our shortcomings before your holy light. Let us freely subject ourselves to the tribulation that shall purify our hearts, our thoughts, our words and actions\u2026 that we might reflect your glory even in this world, doing your work all our days and coming to immortality with Jesus your Son.