Today, Jesus makes a beautiful parallel between his relationship with he and us, and the growth of a vine. He lived in a series of farming communities, and this was an eloquent and meaningful way of describing his teachings. People would have understood it. They woukd have known what it was like to prune a vine, to dress it, to harvest it, indeed to live off it.
Mind you, the Gospel of today can make us flinch. It reminds us that, sometimes, we need to cut parts of ourselves away in order to live in Christ.
But let’s not flinch. Instead, let us remember that we are in a wonderful position. We have, through the Church, the Sacraments, Scripture and Church writings, a meticulous caretaker of our vine branches. Through our own spiritual life and by the help of others, we are able to keep our vine at its optimum. Only when we let this languish do we come into trouble.
The centrality of this cause is to remain within the vine, to stay connected to Christ. When we go off on our own, we then begin to lose contact with him. It is through the Sacraments and all that the Church has to offer that we stay on track.
God, Jesus says, is the vinedresser. What a wonderful thought, that God our creator is being so meticulous with our growth.
We may take this thought, if no others, into next week, and allow it to comfort us as we try to live as members of the Body of Christ. Jesus is the vine, and we are part of that vine. How can we not be excited to remind ourselves of this truth. That we are part of him.
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you
And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John 15:10
Glory to you, O Lord
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.
Every branch in me that bears no fruit he cuts away,
and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes to make it bear even more.
You are pruned already, by means of the word that I have spoken to you.
Make your home in me, as I make mine in you.
As a branch cannot bear fruit all by itself, but must remain part of the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me.
I am the vine, you are the branches.
Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty;
for cut off from me you can do nothing.
Anyone who does not remain in me is like a branch that has been thrown away – he withers; these branches are collected and thrown on the fire, and they are burnt.
If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask what you will and you shall get it. It is to the glory of my Father that you should bear much fruit, and then you will be my disciples.’
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ