OMELIE / Omelie EN

02 mag 2021

02/05/2021 – 5th Sunday of Easter - year B

02/05/2021 – 5^th Sunday of Easter - year B

Reading 1 ACTS 9,26-31 Psalm 21/22 Reading 2 1JN 3,18-24 Gospel JN 15,1-8

Jesus uses a beautiful image in order to make us understand who He is and who we are. We are “someone” thanks to Him, because we have a vital relationship with Him. Our identity acquires value and concreteness from the relationship we have with Him, and it is stable because He lives forever.

In fact, He compares Himself to the vine, the plant which produces grapes as fruit, therefore a precious plant, because its fruit becomes “wine to gladden the human heart”. The vine though, first of all, is the image used by the prophets in order to represent the people of Israel: this people is the vineyard which, planted and grown with love and care by God, once the harvest day has come, has not produced anything but unripe grapes, grapes from which is impossible to get a sweet and enjoyable wine, only a bitter and unpleasant one. So, men could not enjoy serenity and communion, joy and benevolence, mercy and justice, they could not celebrate among themselves, as the Father would have liked. Jesus, on the contrary, defines Himself as “the true vine”, the one which gives the Father joy and glory, because the fruit is going to be enjoyable for Him: men with Him will reach communion and the joyous feast. However, He bears “fruit” only through His disciples; in fact, He calls them “branches”: grapes grow on the branches. So, how precious we are to Him and the Father!

The Father Himself, Jesus says, is taking care of the vine and carefully observes the branches, to lift them and prune them. Of course, in the case of the branches pruning is necessary, not in order to punish them, but in order to make them bear more fruit. We all know how the farmer prunes the vines, but we do not know how the Father “prunes” the disciples of Jesus. Since He says: “You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you”, we can think that the main pruning is happening through Jesus' words and His teachings. They who welcome the Lord’s Word as the light and the guide of life, let their habits and their beliefs, coming from human selfishness, go and find themselves purified, pruned, ready to bear fruit for the kingdom of God. Welcoming and guarding Jesus' Word is the guarantee of our unity with Him, and it is also guarantee that the Father listens to and acknowledges our desires, those come from meditating that very Word.

We can see these realities become concrete in the life of the saints. They have welcomed the Lord’s Word and their life has changed, has born fruit, a fruit which the Church is proud of and the world enjoy. Their prayer has been granted by the Father, who has taken their union with the Son so seriously that He has listened to their desires as He had listened to those of Jesus Himself. We ask ourselves if we could possibly be like them. Of course! Their example is given us so we can imitate them too.

Often we let ourselves be discouraged by the difficulties: these are real, but they are there to purify and strengthen us. Saint Paul too, as soon as he became a Christian, has encountered difficulties, as Luke is telling us in the Acts: the very Christians in Jerusalem could not trust him, so much so that the intervention of Barnabas had become necessary, with all his authority and his goodness, in order to convince the faithful that the dangerous Saul had become the meek Paul.

I am often asking myself which one is the Word I need to live up to in order to be united to Jesus and please the Father, who is visiting me in order to prune me. Saint John helps us: “his commandment is this: we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us”. To believe and love, believe in Jesus and love as He has loved. These words are summarising His whole teachings. If we live these two words we are united to Jesus and we are loved and listened to by the Father. To believe in the name of his Son, so trust in Jesus, and give one another the love we have received from Him. Jesus does not want me to love only, but also that I let myself be loved, that I accept someone suffering for me, or at least making the effort to welcome me and stand me. This attitude adds humility to my ability to love others: I consider them a present from God, superior to me. In fact, the ability to love could make me proud, and pride would make my love unenjoyable for men, not only for God. So, it is necessary that I learn to let myself be loved.

Thanks, Jesus, for giving to the world the fruit of your passion and your resurrection through your whole Church!