17 December 2026 · Syro-Malankara Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malabar Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“Thus you will know them by their fruits.” Matthew 7:20
At the end of Romans Paul warns against those who cause dissensions and offences, serving “their own appetites” and deceiving the simple with smooth talk. He wants the Romans to be “wise in what is good and guileless in what is evil.” And then a promise that echoes Genesis: “The God of peace will shortly crush Satan under your feet.” The child born of the woman will strike the serpent's head; his victory becomes ours.
Jesus warns against false prophets who come in sheep's clothing. How do we recognise them? Not by their eloquence or their claims, but by their fruits: a good tree bears good fruit, a bad tree bad fruit. “Thus you will know them by their fruits.” The same test applies to us. In these last days of the fast we ask whether our lives bear the fruits of Christ: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness.
Theme: “You will know them by their fruits.”
Discernment and the victory of the God of peace.
“Thus says the LORD of hosts: Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you; they are deluding you. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.” Jeremiah 23:16
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” Matthew 7:15
Apply: Check religious content for faithfulness before sharing it.
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” Proverbs 9:10
“For while your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, I want you to be wise in what is good and guileless in what is evil.” Romans 16:19
Apply: Read one page of the Catechism this week.
“You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.” Psalm 91:13
“The God of peace will shortly crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” Romans 16:20
Apply: Renew your baptismal rejection of Satan in prayer tonight.
Test the fruits.
The God of peace is stronger than evil.
Take-home resolution: Do one act of kindness each day until Yaldo.
Dear friends, St Paul ends his letter to the Romans with a warning: keep an eye on those who cause dissensions and offences, in opposition to the teaching that you have learned; avoid them. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the simple-minded (Romans 16:17–18).
Then he gives a beautiful promise: the God of peace will shortly crush Satan under your feet (Romans 16:20). This recalls the first promise of salvation in Genesis, that the offspring of the woman would crush the serpent's head. At Yaldo that promise begins to be fulfilled.
In the Gospel Jesus says: beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit (Matthew 7:15–17).
Today many voices claim to speak for God: on television, on social media, in new movements. Some bring division, fear and money-making. Jesus gives a simple test: look at the fruits. Do they lead to humility, charity, unity with the Church, and holiness of life?
The test applies to us too. What fruit does my faith bear? Patience at home, honesty at work, generosity to the poor, faithfulness in prayer? A good tree is known not by its leaves but by its fruit.
During the last days of the fast, let us hold fast to the faith we received from the Church, avoid what divides, and ask God to make us good trees. The God of peace will crush evil under our feet. Amen.
Children, a good tree gives good fruit. Be a good tree: do good things today!
God of peace, crush the power of evil under our feet. Give us wisdom to know the true from the false, and make our lives good trees bearing the fruit of your Son. Amen.
The Church today remembers Mar Rabbula, Bishop of Edessa, while the fast before Yaldo continues. Both readings ask a pastoral question: how does a community tell true teaching from false? Paul says to watch those who divide and flatter. Jesus says to look at the fruit. And behind both stands a promise older than either of them: the serpent's head will be crushed.
Setting.
Romans ends with a long list of greetings (16:1–16), full of warmth and names. Today's warning breaks into it rather suddenly. Paul has not yet visited Rome, and he does not name these people or say what they taught. He writes as a pastor who has seen elsewhere what such people can do to a community.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“keep an eye on those who cause dissensions and offenses, in opposition to the teaching that you have learned; avoid them.” (16:17)
The test is “the teaching that you have learned”: the faith already received. Paul is not asking the Romans to avoid everyone who asks a hard question.
“I want you to be wise in what is good and guileless in what is evil.” (16:19)
A Christian is not asked to be naive. We should be sharp about what is good and have no skill in evil.
“The God of peace will shortly crush Satan under your feet.” (16:20)
Note who is called what: the God of peace does the crushing. The dividers are defeated by the God who makes peace. The image echoes Genesis 3:15: “he will strike your head”. Paul adds that this victory will happen under your feet: Christ shares it with his Church.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism calls Genesis 3:15 the Protoevangelium, the first announcement of the Messiah and of his victory, and notes that Christian tradition sees in it the New Adam and the woman who is his mother (CCC 410–411). St Irenaeus reads Genesis 3:15 as fulfilled in Christ, born of a woman, who overcomes the enemy (in substance). The Church reads this in the days before Yaldo for a good reason: the Child is the one promised at the beginning.
Setting.
These verses come near the end of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7). Jesus has spoken of the narrow gate (7:13–14). Now he warns of those who can lead people to the wrong one. Israel already knew the problem of false prophets (Deuteronomy 13; 18:20–22; Jeremiah 23). Matthew's Church apparently knew it too, as the next verses show (7:21–23).
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
““Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” (7:15)
Costume is the problem. Paul warned the elders of Ephesus about wolves too, from outside and from among themselves (Acts 20:29–30).
“You will know them by their fruits.” (7:16)
The test does not depend on eloquence, miracles or popularity. It takes time, as fruit does. The sentence opens and closes this little passage (v. 20), so that we cannot miss it.
“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” (7:19)
Word for word, this is what John the Baptist preached in the desert (3:10). Jesus and his forerunner speak with one voice.
How the Church reads it.
An early Christian manual, the Didache, gives the same test: not everyone who speaks in the Spirit is a prophet, but only one who has the ways of the Lord (11:8, in substance). The Catechism takes “you will know them by their fruits” as a sign that grace is at work in a life (CCC 2005), and lists the fruits of the Spirit (CCC 1832). The test is therefore for us as well as for our teachers.
Should I judge my pastors and teachers by this passage?
Jesus warned against a judging spirit (7:1), yet he also asks us to discern. The Church gives the standard: the faith handed down, the communion of the Church, and a life that bears the Spirit's fruit. Discernment should be humble and patient, and it should begin with our own tree.
Mar Rabbula was Bishop of Edessa from about 411 until his death around 436, a central figure of the Syriac-speaking Church in his time. Syriac sources remember his strict discipline and his care for the poor and the sick. After the Council of Ephesus (431) he stood with St Cyril of Alexandria in defending the faith about Christ. A bishop who has to guard his flock is a fitting companion for today's readings.