Wednesday May 5

FIFTH WEEK OF EASTER

 

ONE IN THE TRUE VINE — FACTIONS IN THE CHURCH

 

Introduction

Implanted by baptism in Christ, the true vine, and therefore, by vocation and by our being Christians, we are called to be one in him, however we often fall apart into factions because of our background of land and culture, regionalisms and differences of language, social origins and classes, conservatives against progressives. So it was in the early Church: Christians discriminated because of their pagan origins, different parties even among those of Jewish extraction. Are we any better? No wonder that we bear little fruit… Let the Lord prune and purify us and unite us all in Christ as branches on the same vine.

 

Opening Prayer

Lord our God, loving Father,
you have given us your Son, Jesus Christ,
as the true vine of life
and our source of strength.
Help us to live his life
as living branches attached to the vine,
and to bear plenty of fruits
of justice, goodness and love.
Let our union with him become visible
in our openness to one another
and in our unity as brothers and sisters,
that he may be visibly present among us,
now and for ever.

Reading 1: ACTS 15:1-6

Some who had come down from Judea were instructing the brothers,
“Unless you are circumcised according to the Mosaic practice,
you cannot be saved.”
Because there arose no little dissension and debate
by Paul and Barnabas with them,
it was decided that Paul, Barnabas, and some of the others
should go up to Jerusalem to the Apostles and presbyters
about this question.
They were sent on their journey by the Church,
and passed through Phoenicia and Samaria
telling of the conversion of the Gentiles,
and brought great joy to all the brethren.
When they arrived in Jerusalem,
they were welcomed by the Church,
as well as by the Apostles and the presbyters,
and they reported what God had done with them.
But some from the party of the Pharisees who had become believers
stood up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them
and direct them to observe the Mosaic law.”
The Apostles and the presbyters met together to see about this matter.

 

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 122:1-2, 3-4AB, 4CD-5

(see 1) Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
I rejoiced because they said to me,
“We will go up to the house of the LORD.”
And now we have set foot
within your gates, O Jerusalem.
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Jerusalem, built as a city
with compact unity.
To it the tribes go up,
the tribes of the LORD.
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
According to the decree for Israel,
to give thanks to the name of the LORD.
In it are set up judgment seats,
seats for the house of David.
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.

 

Alleluia: JN 15:4A, 5B

Alleluia, alleluia.
Remain in me, as I remain in you, says the Lord;
whoever remains in me will bear much fruit.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel: JN 15:1-8

Jesus said to his disciples:
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.
He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit,
and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.
You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you.
Remain in me, as I remain in you.
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.
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;
people will gather them and throw them into a fire
and they will be burned.
If you remain in me and my words remain in you,
ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.
By this is my Father glorified,
that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

 

Intercessions

–   Lord Jesus, keep your Church from dividing and competing factions; make us all deeply one in you, we pray:

–   Lord Jesus, let the sick and those who suffer remember that you are one with them, we pray:

–   Lord Jesus, let the new wine of your grace flow in us, that it may make us great and strong in love and gentleness, we pray:

 

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord our God, loving Father,
you planted your Son among us
as the true life-giving vine.
Let him give himself to us today
as the bread of strength
and pour himself for us
as the unifying, life-giving wine,
that we may live in him
and he in us.
And that we may bear fruits
of unity and love
in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

 

Prayer after Communion

Lord our God, loving Father,
we thank you for filling us
with the sap of life
from Jesus, our true vine.
May we go on living in union
with him and with one another,
that in the uncertainties of life
we may go on believing, hoping
and building together a kingdom of love.
And when we grope in the dark in days of trial,
reassure us that you are purifying our faith
and that you are always with us
in people and in your Son,
Christ Jesus, our Lord for ever.

 

Blessing

Our Lord tells us today: “Remain, live in me, as I remain in you.” Yes, let us stay in his love and do the things of everyday life in union with him and in his strength. And let us take him to our brothers and sisters by our common concern and love. May Almighty God bless you for this, the Father who loves you, the Son who lives in you, and the Holy Spirit who guides you.

 

Commentary

We begin the reading from chapter 15 of the Gospel of John. It will accompany us until next Monday. In this chapter there is an important word: “remain”. Today the evangelist highlights one of the meanings he gives to this verb: TO ABIDE or to be united to Jesus as the branches to the vine.

TO ABIDE in Jesus means a deep communion between Jesus and the one who believes in Him. Just as the branch receives its life from and through the vine, so we receive our life from and through Jesus. It is the life of Christ poured into us that revives our existence thanks to our communion with Him. With Jesus I am alive, without Him I am dead; with Jesus we are everything and we can do everything; without Jesus we are nothing and we can do nothing. The branch united to life “bears much fruit”, separated from the vine, it dries up, it is sterile, because the sap comes from the vine and not from itself.

Today Jesus calls on us to maintain that deep relationship with him – Like good friends. The vine is generally not a single branch, but several, and the same sap of the vine nourishes all the branches and keeps them united to the vine and to each other. The united branches express the vitality of the vine. Jesus is the vine, and we his disciples are the branches. The Spirit of Jesus runs the same through all of us and unites us all. The only reason we come together as a family before the Table of the Lord is that we are in blood relation! We share the blood of Christ – the life of Christ. It is the life of Jesus that creates communion among all of us. Communion that is union of hearts, not simply being together; communion of feelings, not only of words and rites.

He wants us to maintain that deep bond, to let his sap reach us inside and give us the life we need to bear fruit. When we allow the Word of God to prune and purify our lives, we would learn to appreciate and value others, accept one another with mercy and understanding. These are the fruits we will bear if we remain united to Jesus. Then we can say like St. Paul: “I live, but not I, it is Christ who lives in me”. A purification that lasts a lifetime and that has different stages and forms of realization.

Do I feel that I maintain that deep relationship with Jesus that allows me to bear fruits of love? How do I express my love to those around me?