Wednesday in the Fifth Week of Easter, May 18, 2022

John 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.”

In the Gospel reading for today’s Mass, Jesus continues to instruct his Apostles during the Last Supper.  He speaks to them mostly about their future, the Church, and the Holy Spirit.  

“I am the true vine.”  By “the true vine” the Lord means not that he is like a grave vine but that grape vines are a little like him.  The grape vine was created as a way for us to understand the Son of God.  “My Father is the vine grower.”  The Son shows the union of Father and Son and their distinct works.  “He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.”  The production of fruit shows which branches belong to the vine and which do not.  The Vine Grower, the Father, “takes away” the false branches that do not bear fruit.  The Greek word translated here as “ to take away” means “to lift up”, “to raise”, and “to kill”.  This speaks of the severe fate that comes to the useless branch.  The Father also “pruned” the fruitful branches so that they may bear even more fruit.  That is, extraneous growths would be cut off from the branch so that the earth’s nourishment is not wasted on these.  “You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you.”  The Apostles are pruned in the sense that the Lord has prepared them to go forth to the world to spread the Gospel: his word has caused them to become detached from their former way of life.  The branches that bring forth fruit are those who belong to Christ through baptism and who work for the conversion of the world through their words, actions, prayers, and sacrifices.  Not all believers are called to do this in the same way.  Some, like St. Peter Claver, are called to be missionaries; some, like St. Therese of Lisieux, are called to pray for missionaries and for conversions.  All of us can give good example to others and explain, if only in basic form, the teachings of the Church to those who are curious.  The branches that do not do this show themselves to not really belong to Christ, though they may have appeared to.  A grape vine in the winter looks like a dead bunch of weeds.  Weeds, in fact, will wind their way around it so that it becomes difficult to distinguish the vine from the weeds.  It is in the spring and summer that this can be done, for the dead looking branches of the vine come alive and put forth fruit.  Then it is safe to clear out the weeds from it.

“Remain in me, as I remain in you.”  That is, “abide” in me, as I abide in you.  It is not a matter of studying the Lord’s teachings so as to hand them on, but it is necessary for the one who spreads the Gospel to have intimacy with him in prayer: “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.”  The Greek word means “abide”, as in “to continue living with”.

“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.”  As branches, we depended on him, the vine, for everything.  He supplies us with the nourishment that we need in order to live and even to flourish. 

“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.”  We see in the Lord’s words his zeal for souls.  It was for this that he came into the world and gave up his life in a terrible Death.  His zeal so drove him that even on the Cross he was preaching the Gospel, through his suffering, leading one of the thieves crucified with him to repent from his sins.  He exhorts us to have zeal for souls in the same manner, which we exercise according to our individual callings.

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.”  That is, whatever we ask for in our work of spreading the Gospel, which we do for the glory of God: “By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

It is worth repeating that not all of us can be missionaries overseas or on the front lines working for the conversion of the world.  Most of us are called to do the work of prayer and of making sacrifices for this cause. As Mother Theresa used to say to her lay volunteers, “What I can do, you cannot, but what you can do, I cannot.  But together we can make something beautiful for God.”