Thursday, May 15, 2014

4th Easter 2009, Rivering Every Way



4th Easter
John 15: 1-27

I AM the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he trims clean, so that it will be even more fruitful. You have already been purified by the power of the word that I have spoken to you.
Abide in me and I in you.
Just as the branch cannot bear fruit out of itself unless it is given life by the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you stay united with me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains united with me so that I can work in him, bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not remain united with me withers like a branch that is cut off. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me, and my words live on in you, pray for that which you also will, and it shall come about for you. By this my Father is revealed, that you bear rich spiritual fruit and become ever more truly my disciples.
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Ground your being in my love, just as I have taken the aims of my Father into my will and live on in his love.
These words I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. This is the task I put before you: that you love one another as I have loved you.
No man can have greater love than this, than that he offer up his life for his friends. You are my friends if you follow the task I have given you. No longer can I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing. But I call you my friends because I have made known to you all that I have heard from my Father.
You did not choose me, but I have chosen you, and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruits should live on after you, so that what you ask the Father in my name he should give it to you. I say to you out of the fullness of my power: Love one another.
If the world hates you with hatred, remember that they hated me first. If you belonged to people in general, they would love you as belonging to them; but you do not belong to them, because I have chosen you out of mankind. That is why people hate you.
Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master’. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have held on to my word, they will hold on to yours also. Everything that they do to you they will do as though they did it to me, for they do not know Him who sent me.
If I had not come and had not spoken to them, they would be without sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who turns in hatred against me turns in hatred against my Father also. If I had not done deeds among them, deeds which no one else has ever done, they would be without guilt. But now they have seen me, and have still hated both me and my Father.

But it was to fulfill what is written in their law: ‘They hated me without a cause.’
But when the Comforter comes, the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bring knowledge of me and will be my witness. And you also will be my witnesses, because you have been united with me from the very beginning. 



4th Easter
May 3, 2009
John 15:1-27


Such a beautiful image—Christ says, “I am the Vine, you are the branches.” John 15:5. Christ is our lifeblood. He keeps us alive. The Father, who holds our destiny, is the vinedresser. He is looking for healthy growth, trimming away what does not serve, in order to increase what will.

In our western culture we have grown much that was useless, excessive, even diseased. The healthy part of us accepts the necessity of a “correction”. True, the process is painful; but it is only right and just. It is meant for our good, for our health. Time to trim back. Time to become truly fruitful. Time to seek the living source.

Here, in the Act of Consecration of Man we receive such a vivid reminder that Christ is indeed what nourishes. We cluster in prayer like fruit on His vine. We receive His wine-sap, the living juice of His blood.

So that we too remain connected to His love;
So that we, too, become and remain fruitful;
So that we in turn may channel His strengthening life and love to others.

As the poet says:

…. Now

it’s your limbs He comes to fill, as warm water
shatters at birth, rivering every way. [1]






[1] Mary Karr, “Descending Theology: The Resurrection”, in Poetry, 2006

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