Roots and Fruits

 Get the written version in your email inbox every morning by subscribing for free at TheVictorsCrown.com---Roots and FruitIn striving for holiness, we have to balance what you might call the interior life and the exterior life. Faith and works. The contemplative and the active.The interior life is the foundation. Without it, nothing else holds. When we neglect prayer and place all our energy in exterior activity, the spiritual life begins to dry up. Faith and love for God have to come first — everything else is built on top of that.And it's from that foundation that our works flow. As St. James tells us, "Faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead." (James 2:17)The interior life was never meant to stay interior. Whatever fruits grow there are meant to be brought into the world — shared, offered, given away. We're not called to hide them behind the walls of our souls."A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So by their fruits you will know them." (Matthew 7:18-20)Let us pray. Heavenly Father, You have a plan for our lives. You have planted us where You will. Help us to bear fruit as You will. In Jesus' name, Amen.Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Get full access to The Victor's Crown at www.thevictorscrown.com/subscribe