Gospel: Jn 15:1-8
I am the true vine and my Father is the vine grower. If any of my branches doesn’t bear fruit, he breaks it off; and he prunes
every branch that does bear fruit, that it may bear even more fruit. You are already made clean by the word I have spoken
to you. Live in me as I live in you. The branch cannot bear fruit by itself, but has to remain part of the vine; so neither
can you, if you don’t remain in me. I am the vine and you are the branches. As long as you remain in me and I in you, you bear much fruit;
but apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not remain in me is thrown away, as they do with branches, and they wither. Then
they are gathered and thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask whatever you want, and
it will be given to you. My Father is glorified when you bear much fruit: it is then that you become my disciples.
Reflection:
We only remain fecund when we stay attached to the Vine. For we do not have
roots of our own. It is the Vine, our Lord Jesus Christ that provides us with the things we
need to bear much fruit in our personal and social spaces. In the level of the personal, it is
the transformation of self for the better. In the social level, it is the growth in love of God
and our fellow humans. If cut abruptly from the Vine, we are useless. If we must venture on
our own, we need a process of grafting that allows us to grow roots of our own while
still attached to the Vine.
© Copyright Bible Diary 2021