The
Parable of the Five Fruits
The farmer’s wife was happy to make her kitchen a welcoming
place for guests to sit around the table with coffee in hand
and with stories to tell. She kept a fruit basket in the
center of the table, a nice touch for a warm setting.
In this basket was a Florida orange-plump and juicy, one
ripe ear of corn from Nebraska, a bright red apple (
hopefully not a Red Delicious!) from Washington state, a
slender shaft of wheat which had been grown in Kansas, and
the fifth fruit, which was a surprise, was a healthy looking
cranberry harvested in a bog in Michigan.
Each one of these fruits, obviously different from each
other, raised in diverse areas and climates, and varying in
the way they were cultivated, had a beauty of its own– a
colorful skin, a soft feathery appearance, varying types of
nutritional value, or an offering of different juices.
However, on some days, the basket seemed too small. The
orange was taking up too much space for some, the polished
apple boasted of her shiny coat too often for others. It
even pushed the cranberry to the bottom of the basket.
The wheat was sometimes criticized for stealing the show
with its unique beauty, but it complained about the shape of
the apple. Meanwhile, the ear of corn listened and watched,
feeling uncomfortable with what it was witnessing.
Gradually, the luster of these fruits was fading so
that even the guests around the table noticed. The farmer’s
wife thought about adding new fruit to the basket but she
wondered what kind would help the original plants to be more
tolerant of one another. Looking in her garden, she
considered a potato because it was cultivated in a different
way than the others. It certainly was well-grounded! But
with all those eyes, it had the potential of being too
judgmental.
Suddenly the farmer’s wife eyed one of the flowers growing
up the fence. It was purple and its unusual markings really
stood out.
There
was a flower that would complement the fruits and help them
understand why acceptance of one another’s differences is so
important.. Very carefully, she bent over, clipped one of
the blossoms and carried it into her kitchen.
The woman placed the flower in the basket and stood there
silently, gazing at all the symbols present in this unusual
blossom,. It was a passion flower. It held reminders of
Christ’s passion, the crown of thorns, the three nails and
the five wounds. The other fruits quickly understood the
significance of this flower, recognizing how Christ forgave
the failings of all those who hurt him or who did not live
up to his expectations.
At
once, the five fruits decided that their basket had plenty
of room for every one of them, with the uniqueness and
diversity of each. The passion flower lasted a long time,
and the renewed love between the five fruits was also
long-lasting.
Written by
Sister Jane Sorenson, OSC
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