The Universal Church celebrates Sunday, April 28, 2024, as the Fifth Sunday of Easter – Year B. In the entrance antiphon, we pray: “Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous deeds; he has revealed to the nations his saving power. Alleluia.”
The theme of this day’s Mass is union with Christ. This is especially seen in the Gospel passage where Saint John presents Christ telling his disciples, and us, that he is the true vine. In Old Testament literature, the vine was always Israel. By referring to himself as the new vine, Christ takes on himself the whole of his people and forms them anew with his own glorified life. His disciples receive this life and thus begin the new community of God.
In the first reading from Acts of the Apostles, Saint Luke presents the figure of Paul, until quite recently an unforgiving persecutor of the young faith. For the others to accept him, Barnabas, who is well known and respected by all, has to intervene to reassure them that Paul has indeed become an apostle of the Risen Lord, even though he was, not too long ago, a great persecutor of Christians.
In the second reading, we continue to read from the First Letter of John in which the author gives a list of conditions that make us God’s children. We must refrain from sin, remain unattached to the world, shun false doctrines, and keep God’s commandments. As we listen to these readings, brothers and sisters, let us pray for the grace to remain in Christ so we can continue his mission by bearing fruit, which is the privilege of all who share Christ’s life.
First Reading: Acts of the Apostles 9: 26-31
When Saul arrived in Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. Then Barnabas took charge of him and brought him to the apostles, and he reported to them how he had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus. He moved about freely with them in Jerusalem and spoke out boldly in the name of the Lord. He also spoke and debated with the Hellenists, but they tried to kill him. And when the brothers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him on his way to Tarsus. The church throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria was at peace. It was being built up and walked in the fear of the Lord, and with the consolation of the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers.
Comment
In this first reading of this day, we meet Paul after his dramatic encounter with the Risen Lord on the road to Damascus. He then undergoes a series of formation sessions under people selected by the Lord himself. He chooses Ananias to confer baptism on Paul and teach him the basics of the Christian faith. Ananias acts like Paul’s spiritual director.
In his Letter to the Galatians (1: 16ff), Paul tells of how he went to the Arabian desert after his conversion to mature in his faith. He spent three years before re turning to Damascus where he began to preach the divinity of Jesus Christ with extraordinary boldness. This surprised and confounded the Jews, who considered him a traitor and began to plot against him.
He fled to Jerusalem, went to see Peter, with whom he spent 15 days (Gal 1:18). He put himself at Peter’s disposal so the latter could check that his teaching was in line with what the other Apostles were preaching. The community in Jerusalem was understandably suspicious and apprehensive of this man who had gained notoriety as one of Christianity’s greatest persecutors. It took the intervention of someone with the authority of Barnabas to reassure them of Paul’s good faith and intention.
The other apostles and disciples had to see him at work, preaching boldly his faith in the Risen Christ to believe. When they saw that the Jews were planning to kill Paul, they then prepared his escape from Jerusalem to his hometown of Tarsus where he would be safe.
The need to overcome any suspicion about his motives makes Paul an energetic preacher, a tireless traveler, and a fierce debater. In his book, Seasons of the Word: Reflections on the Sunday Readings, Father Denis McBride, calls Paul a great example of authentic humanity: he is sensitive, impulsive, obstinate, moody, thoughtful, demanding, driven, and caring. Above everything else, Father Denis continues, Paul’s great lesson to us is his abiding love. He was a man who longed for friendship and the affection of people.
What does this reading tell me, my brothers and sisters? I learn from it that even if we all cannot preach with the fearlessness and fervor of a Paul, we can at least strive to serve as Christ’s missionaries to others the best way we can, and the Lord will extend his hand of help to us. If he can convert to the faith a violent persecutor like Paul, he will definitely empower us to bring his word into our families, job sites and society at large.
Let us pray with Saint Augustine: “Lord, you are my helper and the helper of everyone who reaches out to you. You are my Redeemer for the very purpose of enabling me to reach out to you, who live and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, One God forever and ever. Amen, alleluia.”
Second Reading: First John 3: 18-24.
Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth. Now this is how we shall know that we belong to the truth and reassure our hearts before him in whatever our hearts condemn, for God is greater than our hearts and knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence in God and receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And his commandment is this: we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us. Those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them, and the way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit he gave us.
Comment
Shortly before the passage of this day’s reflection, Saint John has been telling us that for a Christian, difficulties should provide an opportunity to show firmness in the faith and not be sad or discouraged. He is speaking to his followers who are suffering persecution. He tells them that a Christian life involves passing from death to life, from sin to grace. Anyone who does not practice the commandment of love, he tells them, remains in death, that is, in sin.
Anyone who hates his brother, he tells them categorically, is a murderer. By speaking this way, Saint John makes it clear to all that hatred of one’s neighbor is incompatible with the Christian faith. From Christ, Christians learn what love is and what demands it makes on them. Christ laid down his life for us by dying on the cross, and we ought to do same for our neighbours. Brotherly love imposes obligations on us because as children of God, we must imitate Christ who showed infinite love for us by dying for us. We must love to the extent of shedding our blood for the ones we love, if need be.
Using an example that sounds very much like Saint James (2: 15-16), Saint John tells us clearly that love must express itself in action. Anyone who closes his heart when he sees others in need does not possess true love. He advises us not to be afraid to do good to others even if we think we are sinners whose efforts may not always succeed. God knows our frailties and will strengthen us when we reach out to others who are in greater need than us.
Saint John’s teaching on divine mercy is very clear: if our consciences tell us we have done wrong, we can and should seek forgiveness and strengthen our hope in God. God’s love is mightier than our sins. As Saint John Paul II tells us: “When we realize that God’s love for us does not cease in the face of our sin, or recoil before our offences, but becomes even more attentive and generous; when we realize that this love went so far as to cause the Passion and death of the Word made flesh, who consented to redeem us at the price of his own blood, then we exclaim with gratitude: “Yes, the Lord is rich in mercy’, and even, ‘The Lord is mercy!’”
Faith and love are inseparable. If we keep God’s commandments, especially the commandment of love of neighbor, we will abide in his love (Jn 15:10). Christ also tells us that “If you love me you will keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever” (Jn 14: 15-16). And that Counselor is the Holy Spirit to whom we now pray: “Holy Spirit, come into our souls and increase our faith in the Risen Lord and our love for one another. Help us to carry Christ’s Word to our family members, especially those whose faith in Christ’s infinite love, has weakened. We make our prayer through the Risen Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Father, One God forever and ever. Amen. Alleluia.”
Gospel acclamation: “Alleluia, alleluia. Remain in me as I remain in you, says the Lord. Whoever remains in me will bear much fruit. Alleluia.”
Gospel: 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 every one 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.”
Comment
Christ begins this Gospel reflection by comparing himself to the vine. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser”. In the Old Testament, the people of Israel were compared to the vine. In Psalm 80, the Psalmist speaks of the uprooting of the vine from Egypt to be replanted elsewhere in another land. In Isaiah’s Song of the Vineyard (5:1-7), God complains that despite the care he has lavished on his vineyard, it has yielded only sour grapes. Jesus also uses this imagery in his parable of the landowner who leases out his vineyard to some farmers. When the time for the harvest comes, he sends his messengers to collect his due but the tenants treat them poorly and even murder some. Finally, he sends his only son to them but he too receives the same treatment and is also murdered (Mt 21: 33-43). This parable signifies the Jewish people’s rejection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, which leads Christ to turn his attention from the lost sheep of the House of Israel to the Gentile world.
In this day’s passage, however, Christ explains that he is the true vine, because the old vine, the people of Israel, have rejected his Word. The old vine has now been succeeded by the new vine, which is the Church of which Christ is the head (1 Cor 3:9). To be fruitful, one must be united to this new, true vine, Jesus Christ. It is no longer a matter of simply belonging to the community but of living the life of Christ, the life of grace, the life steeped in love for one’s neighbor. This image of the vine also symbolizes the unity of the Church, Christ’s mystical body, in which all the members are intimately united with the head and by extension with one another (Rom 12: 4-5; Ep 4: 15-16; 1 Cor 12: 12-26).
Our Lord describes two situations: those who, although still joined to the vine externally, yield no fruit; and those who do yield fruit but could still do more. Saint James carries the same message in his Epistle when he tells us that faith alone without works is not enough (Jas 2: 17). Our faith in God alone is not enough unless we do care for one another. In other words, it is not enough to have been baptized and to profess our faith externally; we must share Christ’s life through grace and by cooperating with him in his work of redemption.
We must be pruned, that is, cleansed through the sacrament of reconciliation to produce acceptable fruit of faith that joins us to Christ, the true vine. Separated from him, we become the branch that has been separated from the vine that withers and is only good for the fire. If a person is not united to Christ by means of grace, he or she becomes a dead branch.
How relevant is this Gospel to me as a Christian living in the city of Douala today? It tells me clearly that my life of union with Christ necessarily goes beyond my private life. I must also focus on the good of others. God wants me to be fully in Christ for Christ is the vine and I am one of the branches. Apart from Christ, I will remain barren.
Unity with the Lord and with one another is fundamental to our lives as Christians. Without Jesus Christ, our lives are empty, for he says: “without me you can do nothing.” Cut away from Jesus, we are lost. Withered and rejected, we are fit to be thrown away. Our life must be rooted in Christ. When we are united with Christ, we necessarily bear rich fruit. Holy Spirit, help us to become people who love justice, peace, and reconciliation, through Christ the Risen Lord, who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen. Alleluia.
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