5th Sunday of Easter
The image of the vine, the vine grower and the branches we heard today in the gospel reading from the gospel of Saint John 15:1-8 gives us a very intriguing and powerful image of the importance of God in our lives as Christians. Jesus said "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing." With these words, Jesus reminds us to have God be the center of our lives because without Him we can do nothing.
Today’s gospel reading clearly teaches us three important things about our relationship with God. The first is that Jesus Christ, the true Vine should be the center and focus of our lives because without Him we can do nothing. Take a moment and think about your life as a Catholic Christian, ask yourself if Christ is truly the center and focus of your life? Ask yourself who would I be today without God in my life? Or what could I have achieved today without God’s graces, mercies and blessings?
Today’s gospel reading also emphasizes that Pride destroys and severs the union that exists between us and God because we are branches attached to the true vine Jesus Christ. It also emphasizes the importance of humility or self emptying in our lives as Christians if we truly want to bear fruit because whoever remains in Christ, Christ will remain in them and they will bear fruit that will last. Are we humble as christians? Do we let our call to discipleship be about God and not about ourselves? Do we empty ourselves and let God use us as His instruments of love, peace, and justice in our broken world today?
Today’s gospel reading also urges us to pay attention to the importance of unity, oneness in Christ, communal life and love that builds us up into a community of faith. This emphasizes the spirit altruism, which will in the end lead us to producing fruits of love not just individually, but as members of God’s family since we are branches of the vine and Jesus is the Vine. My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, remember Jesus’s words to us today, “I am the vine, you are the branches."
Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.” So let us remain active and alive in Christ the Vine by having Him be the center and focus of our lives, and by humbly but emphatically proclaiming Him to the world as one, as a family united in love so as to glorify the Father, bear much fruit and become better disciples of Christ. Amen!
