Bernie was smart in school, but he wasnít very good at telling what was in another person's heart.
ï In school, one person would talk with long words and act as if he knew a lot. Later, Bernie would learn the person didnít study and got terrible grades.
ï On the soccer field, a teammate would teach some of Bernieís teammates ways to cheat. That person made Bernieís coach mad and the cheater was thrown off the team.
ï Bernie even liked a very bright and talented classmate who had an opinion about everyone. Bernie laughed at the way this classmate put others down, until he heard the way the classmate put him down.

Bernieís older brother, Max, could see the hurt in his eyes. "Whatís wrong, Bernie?" Max asked.

"I donít get it," Bernie responded. "Everyone I want as a friend turns out to be a liar, a cheat, or just really mean. Why canít I pick friends who have good hearts?"

"Donít get down on yourself," Max said to comfort Bernie. "Everyone wants good friends. But, choosing good friends takes time. I hate to say it, little brother, but you have to test people to see what is in their hearts."

"Test people?" Bernie said. "You mean trick people. Thatís not fair!"

"No," Max replied. "You test people by listening to them. If they brag to impress you, watch out. If they want you to do something thatís not right, watch out. If they put down others for fun, watch out."

"What should I listen for?" Bernie asked.

"Listen for words of caring," Max said. "And watch the person who says he cares. If that personís words and actions match, heíll make a good friend. If a person really cares about others, heíll probably care about you."

 From that time on, Bernie looked for people who cared. Slowly, he found the good friends he always wanted. Those friends werenít the flashiest, the most popular, or the funniest. But they were the most caring. They were the best friends anyone could ever want.

Jesus wants us to be the kind of person someone would want as a friend, one who doesnít brag, or cheat, or put others down. Jesus wants us to love others.

We have been reading Lukeís Sermon on the Plain for three consecutive weeks. Jesus is teaching his disciples, us, about the love we must have in our hearts, the love that must dominate our lives as Christians.

The Sermon on the Plain began with the beatitudes that consisted of blessings and woes. They ask us to look at situations from Godís perspective as opposed to our own. I am still afflicted by the woes to the rich. These are tough words for a community like Edmond, especially if we are not putting our love and resources into action by attaining justice for the poor, feeding the hungry, comforting the sorrowing, or accepting the excluded. If this is the case, we are putting brakes on our love.

We heard part two of the Sermon on the Plain last week: it was a ëhow toí lesson for putting the woes into practice. By adopting Godís perspective, we are to love our enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing backÖand to stop judging others." Is this possible for us? Our ways are definitely not Godís ways. However, Jesus set the goal for us and we must continually strive to attain it.

You just heard me proclaim part three of the Sermon on the Plain. Jesus tells us something we already know by using the story of a tree and its fruit. People know us by what comes out of our mouths because that is what is in our heartsóthat is how we really love. The OT reading says the same: "Praise no one before he speaks, for it is then that people are tested."

There is a song that many of us know that summarizes the Gospel on the Plain: "They Will Know We Are Christians by Our Love." The only reliable sign that we are who we say we are is in how well we love.

If we are trees, the orchard of the kingdom, what kind of fruit are we producing? Each tree is known by its fruit. If a heart is full of goodness, good will come from it. A rotten heart produces rotten fruit.

Heart-rot, such as the unwillingness to let go of past wrongs -- especially between family members, taints our ability to love. We can either nurture the story of the great injustices done to us or the story of Godís great mercy -- one or the other, but we have to choose. We can prepare our hearts for cynicism or hope, but never both at once. What happens to our heart is no accident and is too important to leave to chance.

One thing seems universally true: unhappy people are those whose ability to love is in bad repair. We call them the brokenhearted. When our capacity to give or receive love is broken, our lives shrivel on the vine. Our labor seems pointless, our relationships fruitless. The isolation of not loving or being loved is acutely painful.

At times professionals have to be called in to assist us is rebuilding the bridges to love. It may take weeks of spiritual direction, months of counseling, a lifetime of 12-step meetings, a long weekend at a directed retreat, or a rich hour with a good confessor.

It may mean visiting a gravesite of an old enemy and saying, "I wish you well." Or asking forgiveness directly from the person who lives in our house. But whatever it takes, what is the alternative? What else are we going to do with the rest of our lives?

Love begins at home. We must love those with whom we live. We must also love those to whom we are related. We must reestablish broken relationships. When we love well at home, we can then move on to love of the poor, enemies, those who judge us, even the person on death row.

When we can love this way, then all people will know that we are more than Christians in name only, but that we are Christians by our words and the fruit that we bear.