To be ‘fruitful,’ tie your boat to Jesus and push into the deep

What does it mean to be fruitful?

Growing up, the first response to pop into my head would’ve been “to have children.”

Even now, it still pops in first. It feels as though I was trained to equate children with fruitfulness. Obviously, this way of thinking complicated my ability to process infertility as a Catholic woman. But it affects all of us no matter where we fall on the fertility spectrum.

The sacrament of marriage is considered a lifestyle sacrament along with holy orders. Each individual sacrament makes an invisible reality visible by way of a sign. Baptism uses water to bring about the cleansing it signifies. Like food nourishes the body, Christ in the Eucharist nourishes our soul.

With marriage, the sign is the couple themselves who exchange vows on their wedding day, and are then charged to make Christ’s love tangible to each other and the world every single day thereafter.

Every Christian marriage is intended to reflect Christ’s love for the Church, an incredibly fruitful gift to her.

How did Christ love the Church? He listened, healed, comforted, served, nurtured, disciplined, laughed, rested, prayed, played, educated, died, saw value in all people regardless of circumstance and so much more.

He said “yes” to God with every breath and it showed. Everyone felt it. “And Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.’”

“The Blessed Mother didn’t just say “yes” to conceiving the child Jesus. With her Fiat, she agreed to all the joys and deep sorrows of parenting Jesus, and to ultimately become our spiritual mother.

Having children is one of the trillions of ways in which a “yes” can be manifested, but it is the nature of our “yes” that makes us fruitful and not the child itself.

Fruitfulness doesn’t have to look a certain way. Married or not, we are his hands and his feet. Childless and not, tattooed or pink hair, divorced or single, sick or well, the world needs you. The Church needs who you are. It’s literally not the Body of Christ without the diversity that exists among us.

Are you loving like Jesus? Then you, my friend, are fruitful!

Mary Bruno grew up right outside of New Orleans and got married in 2013. It took 12 years for her to be diagnosed with endometriosis. Now permanently infertile, she and her husband have a beautiful adopted daughter, 5 years old, and are waiting to adopt again. Mary’s late diagnoses inspired her to improve fertility awareness and women’s health education and access through speaking, writing and social media. She is an author, Creighton Practitioner, founder of @WhiteLotusBlooming and co-founder and executive director of the new non-profit organization FAbM Base (fabmbase.org).