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29 Apr 2018 - Fifth Sunday of Easter, Cycle B

“I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. He cuts off every branch of me that doesn’t bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more. You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken. “Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me. “I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is—when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples. “I’ve loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you’ll remain intimately at home in my love. That’s what I’ve done—kept my Father’s commands and made myself at home in his love. “I’ve told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. You are my friends when you do the things I command you. I’m no longer calling you servants because servants don’t understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from the Father” (from John 15). From A New Message 4 Next Week (actapublications.com) based on The Message: Catholic/Ecumenical Edition by Eugene Peterson (ACTA Publications, 2013).

true vine branches bear fruit

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Homily stories

29 Apr 2018 - Fifth Sunday of Easter, Cycle B

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. Swallowing them could lead to problems. Spitting them out was not an acceptable solution for many. What to do? On a sunny hillside near Athens a vine was discovered that produced grapes with seeds so tiny you could virtually call it a seedless grape. Scientists grafted that vine onto others, which produced a tastier grape with a smaller seed. This process continued until before long they created Thompson green seedless grapes. More grafting of branches onto other grape vines has created additional varieties of seedless grapes. This was a real miracle of science and nature coming together. Jesus is the vine from which we branch forth. Obviously that vine is life-giving. An ungrafted branch withers and dies. That vine is the very source and essence of the fruit we produce, without which our lives would be lived in vain. Or if we were a branch growing on some wild vine, we would have nothing to offer. The fruit that we bear is the love John writes about so beautifully in the second reading. A good example of this grafting is Paul, once Saul. Now a part of the true vine, his life and words continue to become fruit 2,000 years later.

Authors Father Dominic Grassi

true vine grafting branches bear fruit

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Homily stories

29 Apr 2018 - Fifth Sunday of Easter, Cycle B

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. Being aware of that fact makes Jesus’ words in today’s gospel all the more remarkable. He tells us, “I am the vine and you are the branches.” That is the image he wants us to have of our relationship with him: We are in him, and he is in us. Without him we will wither and die. As the vine to our branches, Christ is assuring us that there is no area of our lives that he will not penetrate. At work, at play, at our worst, at our best, he is ever-present. It’s up to us to draw on him for support and inspiration. When we do, we will bear much fruit. Think of the times when a quick prayer helped unblock your thoughts, motivated you to complete a project, pricked your conscience to make amends to someone you hurt, emboldened you to speak the truth, humbled you to let go of control, awed you into giving thanks and basking in God’s glory. We receive daily confirmation of this gospel’s truth.

Authors Patrice J. Tuohy

pruning vines branches bear fruit true vine

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Homily stories

29 Apr 2018 - Fifth Sunday of Easter, Cycle B

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. It was the middle of the night and she was nursing our newborn daughter. They had not heard me, and I stood in the doorway watching them, moonlight spilling onto them from a window behind them. At church that morning we had sung the words of Jesus, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Remain in me and you shall be fruitful.” I thought of that image of the vine and the branches, and what a revolutionary image of God it evoked. I thought of how the source of life itself flowed from the ground through the vine and out to where the branches would bear good fruit. Jesus must have been constantly trying to discover new ways to describe his relationship with God and with us. Last week it was the good shepherd. This week is the vine and the branches. Next week he declares his deep friendship for those who seek to follow him. One trait stands out in all his descriptions—his obvious yearning to be close to us. Parents and family members can understand that yearning, that desire for connection and sharing life. Look around your house. See the signs of closeness to those you most love. Know that God loves you in that very same way.

Authors Tom McGrath

true vine branches bear fruit Connection

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Quotes

29 Apr 2018 - Fifth Sunday of Easter, Cycle B

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 The passage from the gospel in which the Lord calls himself the vine and his disciples the branches affirms in its own way that, as mediator between God and the human race, the man Christ Jesus is head of the church and we are its members. —Saint Augustine (354-430) If our love is only a will to possess, it is not love. We must look deeply in order to see and understand the needs of the person we love. This is the ground of real love. —Thich Nhat Hanh, Buddhist monk, Peace Is Every Step

saint augustine true vine branches

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Featured Exploring the word

28 Apr 2024 - Fifth Sunday of Easter, Cycle B

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. They won’t have him! In a similar way, as a society we want nothing to do with the rehabilitation of inmates. Incarcerate or even execute, sure. We’re willing to put our tax dollars there. Punishment is the swiftest path to justice. But reform—no. Many of us can’t expand our trust that far. Once a bad guy, always a bad guy. It takes a person of courage and principle like Barnabas to become not only Paul’s RCIA sponsor but his de facto lawyer and to argue his merits to the community. Despite all that, it became apparent to everyone that Paul would get a better welcome from the pagans on the mission trail than among his own in Jerusalem. Postmortem, of course, Paul’s reputation would get a makeover, and he would go from suspicious rebel character to a revered apostle of the church. What made this transformation possible? Paul himself, frankly. His witness to Christ went from a matter of words to deeds. He testified not with his lips but with the sacrifice of his life that he meant what he said when he proclaimed: “Jesus is Lord.” The evangelist John exhorts his community to move in the same direction, not simply to talk a good game but to live what they profess. It remains the ideal of Christian life to demonstrate the reality of our love and not simply to mouth the words in church. Yet most of us would argue that we need more time, we need more chances to prove our love is genuine and our faith sincere. If you or I were judged on the basis of our behavior to date, would there be enough evidence to convict us of Christianity? According to the doctrine of original sin, we’re all condemned criminals in the process of rehabilitating ourselves by the power of grace and through the forgiveness of sin. Sometimes it seems we’re content to judge others once and for all by their past deeds while we hope to be delivered personally on the basis of our future possibilities. Our hope is real. Our hope is Jesus, who is the true vine. Remain in me, Jesus says, and you will bear fruit. Note that Jesus doesn’t say: You might bear fruit. There’s no “maybe” here. Planted in Christ, with his word of life planted in us, the future harvest is assured. If you want to live the truth, you can. If you remain in Christ, you will. Related scripture links Growth of the early church: Acts 2:41, 46-47; 4:4, 32-37; 5:12-16; 6:1-7; 9:31; 11:23-24 Saul’s conversion: Acts 9:1-30 Conflict and circumcision: Gal. 1:6-2:21; 5:1-6:15 Christ is our peace: Eph. 2:11-22 Catechism links Jesus as vine: CCC 737; 755; 864; 1108; 1694; 1988; 2074; 2732 Adapted from a previously published Exploring the word.

Authors Alice Camille

Hope rehabilitation true vine

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