Good Fruit

“…every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit…So by their fruits you will know them.” Matthew 7:17-20

Today, June 28, we celebrate the Feast Day of St. Irenaeus, Bishop and martyr. I did not know much about him before, when I was not so interested in apologetics and the defense of Christianity. But this Saint is one of the pillars of our faith, a Church father, and was instrumental in safeguarding the early Church against heresies by his writings. Today, many are converting to Catholicism because of the many gems of truth left by St. Irenaeus, St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, St. Augustine, etc. who describe for us what the early Church of Christ believed, and how they worshipped. 

After Pentecost, the formerly timid Apostles bravely went forth to preach the gospel and founded churches in numerous cities. St. John the Apostle went to Ephesus in what is Turkey today. There St. Polycarp learned all about Jesus from him, and after St. Polycarp was ordained a Bishop, he governed the Church in Smyrna (Izmir, Turkey today) for 65 years. There, Irenaeus became St. Polycarp’s disciple and became a priest. So all that St. John handed down to Polycarp was passed on to Irenaeus. We can see how our faith is apostolic handed down from Jesus to the Apostles to the Bishops, as God planned. 

Today we see the good fruit in our Church when it stands firm in the same teachings that hold to the sanctity of life and marriage.