A church at peace, growing, and in awe of the Lord. A God who can overcome our limitations. A Lord to whom we are joined as branches to a vine.

"God is greater than our hearts and knows everything.” For some in the pews this weekend, the idea that God can read our hearts will be a terrifying prospect. For others, it will offer blessed relief.

It’s always instructive to see what the world does with reformed criminals. Saul of Tarsus, formerly waging a zealot’s war against Christianity, seeks to join the ranks of the enemy in whole-souled conversion to Christ.

Today we have a lesson in produce. A number of years ago, researchers found that in order to get people to eat more grapes, they had to do something about the seeds. Biting into them was unpleasant.

If you’ve ever been given the task of pruning branches on a vine, you know that it is no easy feat. It is often impossible to tell where the vine ends and the branches begin because they are so intertwined and interconnected.

Certain memories remain vivid as years go by. One that stands out clearly in my mind is a memory of my wife sitting in a gold chair in the living room of our first house.

Christ is the vine and we are the branches. In the confidence this intimate relationship brings, we bring our prayers to God.

Remain in me, as I remain in you. The Johannine writings use the Greek verb menein, “remain” or “abide,” 68 times. On the one hand it describes the relationship between God and Jesus.

Every time the serious business of the life-giving gospel is presented as “business as usual,” what is beyond price becomes nothing more than a low-budget sale item. —Father Ronald Wayne Young, O.M.I., Offering