Hey Kids, do you want to play a game? I bet you didn’t know that you could play a game in Church at Mass, did you? Well, Father JP said it would be OK this one time. 

In this game, we are going to imagine what it’s like to be a tree. That’s right, we get to be a tree that grows fruit like apples, oranges, or cherries. Do you like those fruits? Me too. I like those fruits when they are fresh and juicy. Kids, should we let the parents play too? OK, they can play too.

OK, here’s how you play this imagination game. First, decide what kind of tree you are going to be – an apple, orange, or cherry tree. Good. Now, stand up if you want to, or stay sitting, you can play either way. OK, now close your eyes and stretch your arms out and imagine you are a strong, growing, healthy tree. You have lots of sunshine and water, and you grow bigger and stronger each day. And because you get lots of water and sunshine, you are now growing big apples, oranges, or cherries that are fresh, juicy, and sweet. Wiggle your fingers and the fruit grows… good, you are growing fruit! Now imagine the smiles on people’s faces as they come to pick and eat your fruit. They are very happy!

OK, now all of my trees can open their eyes. How did that feel? Did it feel good to be a strong, healthy tree with yummy fruit? The smiles on people’s faces looked nice too. Good job trees!

So, we played this game because Jesus talked in the Gospel today about being like a strong, healthy tree that gives good fruit. When we are like a healthy tree and we are giving good, yummy fruit, we are acting like Him. Jesus said, “A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor dies a rotten tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit.” 

What He means is that if we are good people, we will grow good fruit, and if we are bad people, we will grow bad, yucky fruit. Who wants that? So, how do we know if we are a good tree or how do we become a good tree? Well, Jesus says a few things about this.

First, He says you can tell if a person is a good tree that grows good fruit by what that person says. Do they say nice things about people and try to cheer them up? Do they say thank you and always tell the truth? That’s a good tree with good fruit.

He also says that you can tell a bad tree with bad fruit when a person says mean things about other people, if they talk behind other peoples’ backs, if they only care about themselves, or they tell lies. That sounds like yucky fruit to me.

So, what we say to or about people determines if we grow good or bad fruit.

Jesus goes on to say, “A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, while an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil.” What He means is a good tree stores up water and soaks up sunshine so that it can withstand heat and grow good fruit. When we are like a good tree, we store up goodness in our hearts to share with others. Every time we do something good for someone, some of that goodness stays and grows in our hearts. And the more goodness we have in our hearts, the more we can share with others. 

That’s a good tree.

That tree has yummy fruit.

That’s the tree that Jesus wants us to be.

So, kids, let’s try to grow good fruit!

Parents, the teaching Jesus has for us this morning is important. He tells us that what we store up in our hearts, good or evil, is who we are. He said, “For from the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks.” In a different passage, He said, “It is not what enters one’s mouth that defiles that person, but what comes out.” We have to be so careful about what we say not only because of its impact on others, but because our kids are watching and learning from everything we say and do – good or bad. 

When we bear good fruit, so do our kids. When we store up goodness in our hearts and share it with others, our kids do too. When we demonstrate love, our kids also love. Let’s show them, and the world, what good fruit looks like.