"REMAIN IN ME..."

April 28, 2024.
Fifth Sunday of Easter – B.

Readings: Acts 9:26-31; Ps 22:26-27, 28, 30, 31-32; 1 Jn3:18-24; Jn 15:1-8.

“I am the vine, you are the branches.” Jn 15:5

A Dutch proverb says: “The strength of a tree lies in its roots, not in its branches.” A Sicilian proverb adds: “If the tree doesn't bear fruit, cut it off at the base.”

While celebrating the Good Shepherd Sunday last Sunday, an emphasis was put on Jesus Christ as the only means of salvation, the only name in whom and through whom we are saved. Peter made it clear to the people: "There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved." Jesus alone, we said. For he alone is the Good Shepherd, the one able to lay down his life for us, his sheep.

Today's readings, mostly the 2nd Reading and the Gospel, continue on the centrality of Jesus. The Lord makes another categoric claim and insists on our need to be with him if we wish to live and have life in us.

Because Christian life is a life with Christ, away from him, there is no life. Just as away from the tree, the branches dry up and die, so too, the life without Christ. He is the tree of our life, the tree of salvation.

"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." Through the Holy Spirit we are restored to paradise, led back to the Kingdom of heaven, and adopted as children, given confidence to call God "Father" and to share in Christ's grace, called children of light and given a share in eternal glory." CCC 736

Our vocation, our true calling, is to be with Christ, to live in Christ, and to imitate and share the life of Christ.

Looking closely and meditating on today's Gospel, one can feel the insistence of the Lord for us to be and to remain with him and in him. Eight times, the expression "Remain in..." is used. The number eight is not accidental but meaningful. It tells us that we can only reach the perfection of life by remaining in the Lord and the Lord in us. The image is quite clear, the vine and the branches. Jesus claims: "I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit.

To remain in the Lord is a way of life and perfection. For, it opens us to make the Lord our priority and live by him and for him, just like branches live by the tree.

The Lord Jesus speaks to his disciples about fruit-bearing, loving, suffering, and witnessing. The symbols used here are expressive: the Vine. Jesus himself is the Vine of life, the tree of salvation. His Father is the owner and the only gardener. He is the one who dictates his will to be followed. And finally, we, believers, are the branches. Our faith attaches us to Jesus and gives us life in him.

The steps for us to have abundant and meaningful life are to submit to God's will and to accept to be pruned by the Father. This may require great sacrifices and even lead to suffering. But a branch can only survive and bear fruit through that. And besides, we must abide in the Son, that is, make his will ours. As a consequence of these actions, comes success, bountiful fruit, and the glorification of God the Father.

We cannot live our Christian life without Christ. As someone said, Christian life without Christ is a crisis. A life without Christ is full of lies: we see people today live fake lives to show who they are not. People run from pillar to post these days looking for a way out of their pains and sorrows. They seek direction from astrologers, mind readers, yoga, zumba… They have not been able to find a way out because Christ the Way is missing. For, without Christ, life is without hope, direction, ambition, and aim, full of hunger, thirst, and darkness. Life itself becomes a bondage and ends in lifelessness. As will say Jesus in the Gospel, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” Apart from him, we are alienated. Apart from him, there is no hope. Apart from him, we are walking through life without God. Apart from him, we can do nothing. Nothing to save us. Nothing to redeem ourselves. Nothing to right our own wrongs. Our only option is to remain in him if we wish to live and have a fruitful life.

Many situations and happenings in life tell the truth of this assertion. Look around and see how hopeless is the life of many people. Some rely on materials, but it can save them. Some others on power, but nothing can it bring them when the last hour comes. Many others rely on pleasure, but they end up eternal-unsatisfied. Only Jesus is the option, the answer, and the solution for a meaningful and fruitful life. "Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me."

In this Easter season, we are told about our need for Christ. He died on the Cross so that we may have life through his death.

John, in the second reading, tells us that our way to prove that we remain in Christ is to love. It is about loving God and loving our neighbor. And the Apostle insists, "Let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth."

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