Saturday, May 2, 2015

5TH SUNDAY OF EASTER (YEAR B)

Acts 9:26-31; 1 Jn 3:18-24; Jn 15:1-8

“I am the true vine and my Father is the vinegrower. If any of my branches doesn’t bear fruit, he breaks it off; and he prunes every branch that does bear fruit, that it may bear even more fruit” (Jn 15:1-2).

In today’s gospel, Jesus uses the familiar image of the vine and the branches to teach us lessons about our Christian life. First of all, the image reminds us that God is the real owner of everything that we have and are. He is the vinegrower. He does to us what he thinks is good and right. As disciples, we need to live our life as if we don’t own anything. We belong fully to God. We should not allow our selfishness and pride to make us think that we have absolute control over our lives. Rather, we always have to be open to God’s action, confident that he knows fully what is good for us.

Second, the image teaches us that Jesus is the source of our life and the point which connects us with one another. He is the vine and we are the branches. A branch cut off from the vine will wither and die. And so it is with our life as disciples – we live fully and become fruitful only by remaining in Christ. In the gospel of John, the word “abide” appears at least thirty-seven times: “Abiding in God”, “abiding in Christ”, and “abiding in his Word”. We need to remain in Christ because apart from him, we can do nothing.


And finally, the image tells us that in order to stay healthy and fruitful we need pruning. Vinegrowers know that the act of pruning is good to the branch. If the branch is not pruned for a long time, it becomes wild and produces no good grapes. Sometimes in our lives, God intervenes with the cross in order to challenge and make us grow. To take away our pride, sometimes God allows us to fail. To make us grow stronger in faith, sometimes God sends us trials and difficulties.

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