FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
29 APRIL 2018
Being
close to the vineyards of southwestern Michigan helps us to understand the
images which Jesus presents in today’s Gospel.
Once the workers in the vineyard plant the first vines, they have to
wait several years for the first grapes.
Rooted in the earth, their tendrils reach out and travel under the
earth, forming long rows. Close to the
earth, the tendrils are brown, thick, and woody. However, nearer to the branches, they are
green, pliant, and flexible. Not only do
the vines have to be propped up to keep them above the ground, but they also
have to be pruned continually. The
pruning enables the water and nutrients to be directed toward the grapes, and
away from the woody stalks. Once a
healthy vineyard has been given a few years, those branches begin producing
tasty grapes every year. Riding through the
vineyards on my bicycle around Labor Day is great, because I can smell the
sweet aroma of grapes ready to be harvested.
We are
those branches, and we have been grafted to the vine when we passed through the
waters of Baptism. To use the words of
the First Letter of John, we are the Beloved of God. As branches connected to the vine, we grow in
God’s love when we keep the commandments to love God and one another. We can bear much fruit, and we can make our
world smell much better by the way we treat one another. Jesus makes it very clear that we can bear
fruit, only if we remain connected with him, the vine.
At this
Mass, our second graders are receiving the Lord in the Eucharist for the first
time. After the homily, they will walk
to the Baptismal Font, where they were first grafted as branches onto Jesus,
the vine. They will renew the promises
made for them as babies and bless themselves with water. Clothed with the white garments reminding
them of the white garments put on them at Baptism, signifying their union with
Christ, they will bring up the gifts of bread, wine, and the sacrificial tithe
and will receive the Lord in the Eucharist for the first time.
They will
receive bread baked from wheat that has been harvested and ground up and
transformed into the Body of Christ.
They will drink wine that comes from fermented grapes and which has been
transformed into the Blood of Christ.
Boys and girls, the Lord promises that he will strengthen you every time
you receive Holy Communion, just as he strengthened the Apostle Paul as he
boldly proclaimed the risen Lord to people who wanted to do him harm. Every time you come to Mass and receive the
Body and Blood of Christ, he will strengthen you to keep the commandments to
love God and neighbor and remain with you.
In the
Gospel of John, Jesus uses the word “to remain” 67 times. He promises to dwell with us, to abide with
us, to stay with us, to remain with us.
These children remind us of that promise today. They remind us that we are the branches, grafted
solidly on the vine that is Christ. Just
as the tendrils of vineyards connect with each other under the earth, we are
connected to one another through the Eucharist as members of the Body of
Christ. We promise to support you as you
bring your children to the Eucharist every Sunday. We promise to be with you, even when you and
your children might be pruned by difficult events in your lives.
Today, we
prayed Psalm 22 as our Responsorial Psalm.
The last time we prayed this Psalm was on Palm Sunday, when we prayed
the first stanzas to reflect on the death of Jesus, the Suffering Servant. Today we pray the later stanzas of this
Psalm, reflecting on the Servant’s vindication in the resurrection. He will remain with us in our suffering and
even in our dying. He promises to remain
with in a very real ay as we continue to be fed with his body and blood,
especially when difficult situations in life will prune us. He will keep his promise to remain with us
forever, as we share in his dying and trust in his rising.
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