Faith

Friday, January 16, 2026Faith

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Paul's description of the fruits of the Spirit was very much on my mind as I prayed and talked with the young people at the conference.

Archbishop Richard G.
Henning

Addressing a very new and often willful Christian community in Galatia, St. Paul offered the community a tool of discernment for their Christian life and development. He reminded them of the "works of the flesh" and pointed out that such flaws are obvious in human beings. Immorality, hatred, jealousy, fury, selfishness and beyond are all too common in the human experience. Then Paul summed up the fruits of the Spirit: "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." (Gal. 5:22-23)
In Paul's experience among many communities, he learned to see how living in accord with God's will opens the human heart and the human experience to the Spirit and to the blessings that flow from the Spirit. While the focus of this discernment might be on God's will, there is a sense in which this is a teaching about the identity of the believer. Made in the image and likeness of God, believers who turn to the Lord find their truest selves. While we might be tempted to be selfish, we were made by and for love.

Paul was writing to a Christian community who had become divided by debates over ritual observance. It appears that in their zeal for their new faith, these Gentile believers came to the conclusion that they would be better disciples if they embraced Jewish ritual prescriptions. Paul shows them that their inclination to demonstrate their righteousness and the divisions that had afflicted their community were signs that they were on the wrong path. And so he invited them back to trust in God, dependence upon grace, and the gifts that flow from peace with God and with one another.
While Paul was not necessarily intending to establish a principle beyond his concerns for that moment and that community, his advice here and in other passages of his letters helped to lay the foundations for Christian discernment. As disciples, we seek to live in accord with God's will. Doing so requires a listening heart and the capacity to quiet all the noise and activity of daily life. Sometimes the discernment is fairly clear -- certainly in those instances where we must choose between right and wrong. We have the wisdom of the Commandments, the Word of God and the teaching of the Church. The more difficult discernment is often in those cases where we must choose between paths when both are righteous. Paul's description of the fruits of the Spirit forms part of the discernment process as it both reveals the movement of the heart and demonstrates the authenticity of a choice.
On New Year's Day, I travelled to Columbus, Ohio, to participate in the SEEK26 conference, the annual gathering of the FOCUS missionaries and the college students they serve. Paul's description of the fruits of the Spirit was very much on my mind as I prayed and talked with the young people at the conference. This year, SEEK took place at three locations, with the largest, 16,000, in Columbus. Despite the size of the gathering and the complexity of managing such an event, patience, kindness, generosity, and joy abounded in those days. And even with all the youthful enthusiasm, there were moments of profound peace and reflection. It was yet another lesson in the authenticity of FOCUS and its mission.
More than once, I have told you about the revival of faith that I have seen as I visit the schools, parishes, and communities of the Archdiocese of Boston. Of course, my travels are my education as the new Archbishop, but they are also an exercise in discernment. One element of that discernment is the conviction that God is at work just now. As the Spirit inspires many people to go deeper into their faith, I believe that we all have a shared responsibility to seek renewal and authenticity as disciples. The methodology of FOCUS is to seek a deep friendship with Jesus Christ and to draw another into that friendship. It does not call for convincing a crowd, but rather walking with a person. It is an openness to the mathematics of God, Who starts with the mustard seed. It has brought the fruits of the Spirit to life in the Archdiocese of Boston and beyond.
Both as individuals and as communities, I ask that we look to this powerful witness of young faith and pray for the fruits of the Spirit. A healthy and authentic community of disciples is not one where anger and bitterness dominate. When in our Christian life we hold others in contempt, the problem is with us, not with them. When we seek peace with God, we will find peace with one another. All things become possible when we open ourselves to God's Spirit -- thus the holy Scriptures teach, and the saints testify. I pray that all of our parishes and schools discern God's will with humility and authentic trust in God's Word and the teaching of the Church handed down across the generations. I pray that our communities receive and embrace "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."

- Archbishop Richard G. Henning is the Archbishop of Boston