"I am the true vine"Jesus says in today's Gospel. But this implies that there can be false vines, which offer fruit that looks succulent but ends up being rotten and even poisonous. Adam and Eve could tell us a thing or two about eating the wrong fruit. Whenever we seek something that does not come from God or that goes against his laws, it is a false vine. It could be some earthly goal that takes us away from God and our family, or a relationship that does not follow Catholic moral teachings. We thought we had found a rich vine, but it turns out to bear bitter fruit.
All the vines of our life must ultimately come from God: He must be the planter and the tiller. We must submit our plans to Him and seek to execute them according to His will. If we do so, He will make them bear fruit. If we do not, they will wither and die. But this also requires God's pruning action. Nothing grows fully unless something is taken away. A great sculptor has to cut, at first, large blocks with heavy blows and then with careful chipping. In a vine or a fruit tree, dead fruit and branches must be cut off. We must never think that we have nothing to cut. There is much in us that needs to be cut: defects, unnecessary goods or certainly our ego needs to be constantly lowered. But any cutting, however painful it may seem, is only for our growth.
"Every branch that does not bear fruit in me is uprooted by me". We should not complain if God takes things away from us. It is only so that we can grow more and better. He may take something away from us because it was hurting us or hindering our spiritual growth. "And every fruit-bearer he prunes, that he may bring forth more fruit.". God takes away so that we can flourish. We tend to be content with ourselves too easily. We produce a few oranges and think we have done well, but God wants us to produce an abundant harvest. We think it is enough to do a little good for our immediate family and the Lord wants us to serve the whole community.
What is it to bear fruit? It is a life of virtue, opening ourselves more and more to the "light of the sun", to the grace of the Holy Spirit. It is to do good to others, to have the children that God wants us to have, to promote Christian values in our environment... But this requires perseverance, to keep us in what we have started, as the branch remains attached to the vine. That is why Our Lord says: "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me".
Homily on the readings of Sunday V of Easter (B)
The priest Luis Herrera Campo offers its nanomiliaA short one-minute reflection for these Sunday readings.
