PODCAST | Productivity vs. Fruitfulness
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In this podcast, Fr. Eric Nicolai helps us to reflect on the distinction between what it means to be productive/successful in life and what it means to be fruitful. Some of us might be productive, but we are called to bear fruit, which frees us from the danger of thinking that our life is useless.
Fr. Eric explains, “God said to the first man and to the first woman, when He blessed them, Adam and Eve, to be fruitful and multiply, fill the Earth and govern it. God directs us to be fruitful, but we interpret this often to be productive.”
To be fruitful requires authentic humility and transparency in our life. It requires docility to the promptings of the Holy Spirit who produces in us the gifts of love, joy, peace, and understanding. As Our Lord promised, the gifts of the Spirit lead us to a fruitful life: to patience, kindness, goodness, self-control, and gentleness. In this way, we are able to multiply the good that our lives, our undertakings, and our work would have for all souls.
Image by Nicolas Poussin via WikiArt
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Rev. Eric Nicolai
Fr. Eric Nicolai, a native of Montreal, Canada, converted to Catholicism as a teenager and was ordained a priest for the Prelature of Opus Dei in 1994. He holds a degree in Art History from McGill University in Montreal and a Masters at Laval University in Quebec City. Fr. Eric currently serves as chaplain of Ernescliff College and of Hawthorn Girls School in Toronto and regularly shares mediations on his Youtube and Podcast channel, In Your Presence. [ Youtube ] [ iTunes ]
