My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
I hope you are having a blessed Easter season. This Sunday, we enter into the 5th Sunday of Easter and are only three weeks away from Pentecost.
In today’s gospel, we hear Jesus using the image of the “Vine and the branches” to explain the relationship between the Father, Jesus, and his disciples. So, let’s pay attention to this analogy.
The vine represents Jesus, the vinedresser (gardener) represents God the Father and the branches are the disciples or followers of Jesus. Jesus tells us that there are two kinds of branches: fruitless ones and fruitful ones. When the branches do not produce fruit, they are cut off and thrown into the fire. But when the branches produce fruit, they are pruned so that they might bear more fruit. Knowing this then we need to ask ourselves two important questions: first, what do we need to do to be fruitful branches, and second, how does God prune us?
If we want to be fruitful branches, we need to “remain” in Christ. In other words, we need to live according to Jesus' words and to “remain” in His Church. The branches to be fruitful need the “sap” from the True Vine, that sap is the grace we receive through God’s word and his sacraments. So, every time we commit a grave sin, every time we reject Jesus’ teachings, we cut ourselves from the vine and render ourselves fruitless branches.
God’s pruning removes anything that is not necessary from our lives so that we might follow him more closely.
Now, how does God prune us? Jesus tells us that God does it through his word. The Word of God, if we put it into practice, takes away anything that is an obstacle for the divine sap of grace to make us fruitful. God’s pruning removes anything that is not necessary from our lives so that we might follow him more closely.
So, my dear family this week I invite you to examine what are the bad habits, sins, or customs that are not allowing you to abide in Jesus and stopping you from being the fruitful branch he wants you to be. I invite you to bring those into the Sacrament of Confession but also to pray in the quiet of your room or the Adoration Chapel and make a concrete plan to cut off from your life those sins.
In Christ, Fr. Cesar Valencia P.E.S