Wednesday 05/05/2021 Eastertide year B, Jn 15, 1-8.
It is good to know that the early Church was not given all the answers by Jesus but was trusted to make the right decisions whenever they faced radical decisions. The question they faced was whether to be a Christian you had to become a Jew first. Fortunately for the Church of the future, they were open to the guidance of the Spirit. Hearing Jesus liking himself to a vine to which we are grafted gives us the reason for his trust. The spirit of God that flowed through him also flows through us since we are grafted onto him. Throughout history, the Church has constantly faced new challenges and made
Pope Francis:
The Lord says: “the Christian life is to remain in me” and Jesus uses the image of the vine: as the branches remain on a vine (Jn 15:1-8). This is not a passive remaining, a falling asleep in the Lord or a kind of “beatific slumber”. This remain is an active remaining, and it is also a mutual remaining. Jesus says: “You remain in me and I in you.” He also remains in us; it is not only we in Him. It is a mutual remaining. Elsewhere Jesus says: I and the Father “will come to him and we will make our home in him” (Jn 14:23). This is a mystery, a mystery of life, and a beautiful mystery. This mutual remaining in the vine shows that branches not attached to the vine can do nothing because the sap would not get to them. They need the sap to grow and bear fruit, but the vine also needs the branches because the fruit is not attached to the vine but the branches. There is a mutual need, a mutual remaining in order to bear fruit.
By Fr Thomas O'BRIEN a.a