Good morning good people. May the Lord give you peace and health in the Holy Spirit!
It is 2nd May 2021. We are in the fifth week of Easter.
The readings are from Acts 10:25-26,34-35,44-48; the second reading is from 1 John 4:7-10; and the Gospel from John 15:9-17.
Having reflected last week on the Good Shepherd, we are invited to meditate on Jesus, the Vine and we are the branches.
One of the anonymous authors said, “We do not see things as they are, we see things as we are.”
In the life of Paul, his conversion was the new beginning, and his vibrant and soul-searching preaching was fruitfulness of faith in Jesus. So many of the disciples were afraid of Paul remembering his violent hatred toward the believers in the past.
In the second reading, St. John wants us to have genuine love not in mere words but in actions. Love is not in mere promises we have made but a non-judgmental and empathetic presence we offer to one another.
Today’s gospel is from the last part of the farewell discourse of Jesus. Love glues us together. In the First Testament, Israel was the vineyard of the Lord and those who were in it were the branches of God’s vine. (Jer.2:21, Ez. 19:10-14, Ps. 80:8-19, Is. 27:2-6). To abide in Jesus, we need to be in His presence united in mind and body. Abiding in Jesus, we become fruitful and apart from Him we can do nothing. The moment we disconnect from Jesus, we become fruitless. “As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” (Jn.15:4).
A school teacher asked her students to do a write up on what they would like God to do for them as they are growing up. When she came home, she began reading and correcting them. One of the students works made her cry so bitterly. As she was sobbing, her husband returned from a busy day from the office. He noticed her and asked what was wrong. She told him to read the essay that brought her tears. The essay read like this: “Dear God, I ask something so special: make me a phone. I wish to take its place and be in the loving hands of my father and mother. I want to be loved, touched, treasured as they do to the phone. I want my brothers and sisters to fight to hold the phone from the father and mother. Lord, I am not asking for much. Just want to live like a phone for which the entire family is after. After reading the script, the husband said: “My God, poor kid. What horrible parents he has.” The wife who is still crying said: “the write-up is by our son.”
We are called to be fruitful people in ourselves, in our family, the Church and the community. If there are no rewards and promises and punishment, would we still love God? Most of the times, our love has become an obligation, an outward show. It is extremely hard to believe God in depressing and challenging times when we have forgotten God in the good and prime time of our life.
In three concrete ways, we can be fruitful. They are boundless love, merciful service and incomparable generosity. Our connection to the Vine is to be vertical as well as horizontal. Leaning on is painful as learning from the other.
In every home, there is a hunger, a thirst, and a want of love. As long as these conditions exist in our families, churches and in country, we remain fruitless.
God’s love is displayed totally in Jesus. Love of Jesus portrayed on the Cross. This much of love will never be repeated to anyone again for eternity.
Master: “Love is the best cure. Love is the most effective medicine for humans.” Disciple: “What if it doesn’t work?” Master: “Increase the dose!”
Our fruitfulness comes from the union with the risen Christ. The intimate union is the one that makes us fruitful in love otherwise we can do nothing. Love is the result of abiding in Jesus. Fruitlessness is the result of selfishness, indifference, and our individualism.
God wants to be glorified in this abiding with the Vine and become fruitful disciples. Without this union with Christ, we cannot glorify the Father.
Michelangelo said once, “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” Yes, service to humanity needs to bring beauty to others and make them feel loved and liberated.
Fruitfulness in giving generously. There is something St. Mother Theresa shared to the public about her giving created the facilities for the needy. “We raffled the car that Pope Paul VI gave me in Bombay. With the money, we collected we created a great centre for lepers that we have named City of Peace. With the money received from the John XXIII aware, we created another rehabilitation centre for lepers called Gift of Peace. With the Nobel Peace Prize money, we built homes for the poor because I only accepted the prize in the name of an as a representative of the poor.” Yes, that is fruitfulness in giving. We never become or replace God by giving but we take others near God.
Are we fruitful or fruitless in loving, serving, and giving? May the Lord help us to be fruitful in abiding in Him and His Word. Have a lovely day. God bless you.