“A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit...” (Luke 6:43.)
Saint Cyril of Alexandria comments on this verse from the Gospel proclaimed at Mass today:
“See again, Christ commands that those who come to us must be distinguished not by their clothing but by what they really are. “By its fruit,” he says, “the tree is known.” It is ignorance and folly for us to expect to find the choicer kinds of fruits on thorns, grapes for instance, and figs. So it is ridiculous for us to imagine that we can find in hypocrites and the profane anything that is admirable, such as the nobleness of virtue.
This is also made clear by another declaration of our Lord. “The good man,” he says, “as out of a good treasure, pours forth from the heart, good things.” One who is differently disposed, and whose mind is the prey of fraud and wickedness, necessarily brings forth what is concealed deep within. The things that are in the mind and heart boil over and are vomited forth by the stream of speech that flows out of it. The virtuous person therefore speaks such things as become his character, while one who is worthless and wicked vomits forth his secret impurity.” (Commentary on Luke, Homily 33)
This is also made clear by another declaration of our Lord. “The good man,” he says, “as out of a good treasure, pours forth from the heart, good things.” One who is differently disposed, and whose mind is the prey of fraud and wickedness, necessarily brings forth what is concealed deep within. The things that are in the mind and heart boil over and are vomited forth by the stream of speech that flows out of it. The virtuous person therefore speaks such things as become his character, while one who is worthless and wicked vomits forth his secret impurity.” (Commentary on Luke, Homily 33)
Collect
O God,
Who made the Bishop Saint Peter Chrysologus
an outstanding preacher of Your Incarnate Word,
grant, through his intercession,
that we may constantly ponder in our hearts
the mysteries of Your salvation and
faithfully express them in what we do.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Who made the Bishop Saint Peter Chrysologus
an outstanding preacher of Your Incarnate Word,
grant, through his intercession,
that we may constantly ponder in our hearts
the mysteries of Your salvation and
faithfully express them in what we do.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen
