GOSPEL POWER |MAY 2, 2021

SUNDAY | 5th Sunday of Easter| Gospel: Jn 15: 1 - 8

Jesus said to his disciples: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide

in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

REFLECTION

Christian discipleship, in its genuine and radical sense,  means following the way of life of Jesus Christ, which  is the way of self-sacrificing love. It looks like an idealistic  life-project, impossible to achieve in the context of our harsh and  selfish world. Indeed it is, if we strive to pursue it alone, relying on  our own strength. But Jesus never intended that way of life to be  lived individually and in isolation from him. We are empowered to  live it only in union with him, for by his death and resurrection, he  has obtained that grace for us. This is what the image of the vineand-the-branches signifies — organic connectedness and dependence  on Jesus. This is also what St. Paul means when he repeatedly uses  the expression “in Christ.” Jesus Christ is the sphere of Christian  existence, the source of the power to live as genuinely loving persons.

PRAYER 

Lord Jesus, apart from you, we can achieve nothing. Never allow  anything to separate us from you. Amen.