CONNECTED TO CHRIST.

May 2, 2021
Fifth Sunday of Easter - B.

Readings: Acts 9:26-31; Ps 22:26-27, 28, 30, 31-32; 1 Jn 3:18-24; Jn 15:1-8.

A Kashmiri proverb says, “Good connections always pay off.” And a Chinese proverb adds, “The lotus root may be severed, but its fibered threads are still connected.”

Do you have a connection? What no one wants to lack today is connection, data, load... For some people, a day without connection is like hell. Connection, connected, network, relationship... these are words dear to our world today. He who wants to live must have a connection and open or even increase his network. Without connection, man lives away from others and at prey to any danger. You have all the diplomas, you need work. Even though you are qualified, you need a connection. You are leading a small business. You want it to be known and prosper. You need a connection and network. Then comes true the saying that "no man is an island." Cut-away from others we die.

But for us Christians, the greatest and highly needed connection is with the Lord. Cut from him we are at loss. By our Baptism, we are connected to Christ and made children of God. It is under his protective care that we can live and bear fruit and so come to the perfection of joy. Without Christ we are nothing.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “By this power of the Spirit, God's children can bear much fruit. He who has grafted us onto the true vine will make us bear "the fruit of the Spirit: . . . love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." "We live by the Spirit"; the more we renounce ourselves, the more we "walk by the Spirit."” CCC. 736.

The Holy Baptism not only makes of us God's children by adoption, but it sets an intimate link with Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. The day we break that link we are out of the network.

In the first reading, we hear about Paul, the newly converted, trying to Integrate the network of the disciples. But these ones were afraid to welcome him because of who he was before. Paul needed the help of Barnabas to be accepted by the followers of the Lord. Conversion is the key to Integrate the network of Christ-followers. Without that sincere conversion and Baptism, man is a danger for himself and others.

St. John, in the second reading, tells the believers that the way to remain in connection with the Lord is obedience to his commandments. And what the Lord commands to his followers is love. Therefore, our obligation is to truly "love not in word or speech but deed and truth." The Apostle tells us that the only way we shall know we belong to Christ and the truth is through love. For, when we sincerely love, our heart is at peace with ourselves and our conscience does not accuse us. The Beloved Apostle insists on telling us that, in our relationship or connection with the Lord, “those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them, and the way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit he gave us.” Remaining in the Lord is the only way for us to be productive in our spiritual and human life.

The Lord Jesus, in the Gospel, in his final addresses to his disciples before his passion, death and resurrection spoke of connection with him. He told them that he was the vine and them the branches. Is there any perfect and clear way to speak of connection? The image of the vine and its branches speaks a lot of dependence and interconnection. The branches live by the vine and the vine bears fruits through its branches. In that relationship, however, the ones more in need are the branches. Without the vine, branches dry away and die. In order to live, they are obliged to remain attached to the tree that is the vine.

For us, Christians, disciples of Christ, the only way to be alive and productive is in our connection to the Lord. The Lord makes it insistent, “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. Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither…”

This Easter season is the time for us to renew our belongingness to the Lord. Many people boast of their independence and this being able of anything by themselves. In so doing, many people live in complete indifference with others and selfishness. They pretend to be self-sufficient and so neglect or disdain others. Our world, though singing connections and networking, is filled with many lonely people enslaved in their narcissism and egocentrism.

The Lord warns us today, “… without me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither…” But not only without the Lord are we nothing, without the others we are good for nothing. We are lonely islands going to disappear at the minor calamity.

This current pandemic reminds us of our interdependence and our deep dependence on the Lord. Without that interconnection and mutual assistance and concern, each one of us is easy prey to the virus and evil. The Covid 19 taught us that either we accept to heal together, or we die together. Our destinies are connected. The world is a big village where all the members live one for another. May we not forget this commandment of the Lord, “we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us.”