Gospel Reflection : Jesus is the vine

Gospel Reflection : Jesus is the vine

Vine 

I love the end product of Viticulture! (the growing of grapes for producing quality wine) How the practice of this art can produce and influence such a wonderful end product is nothing short of miraculous. Grapes on the vine are a sight to behold too. But don’t let me loose near them with a pair of secateurs! To green things that grow in the ground I am Doctor Death! Even when I pass through the plants and flowers section at Sainsbury’s you can see them tremble as a dark shadow passes over them. So I am not one to be entrusted with pruning green things.

However, as the Lord describes it in this Sunday’s Gospel extract from St John, I have been pruned in the life of faith by the Word of God. How I, and in general terms, the Christian people, live life and understand it are profoundly influenced by the Word we encounter in sacred scripture and in personal prayer. Some extracts from the Word in Sacred Scripture which prune me include: 

“Our Father who art in heaven” realising that God is the father of all creation not just me as a very small part of it: 

“God is Love and anyone who lives in love lives in God, and God lives in them” (the connection between what we say of belief and the fact of how we live life is established in these words): 

“Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive they are forgiven. For those whose sins you retain they are retained” (the Lord gives to the Church the power to heal through the forgiveness or the retention of sins...he gives to us through faith divine qualities which can set people free). 

Jesus is the Vine. We are joined to Him through the branches of faith. Let us continue to be cultivated and enriched by the Word of God challenging our understanding of love faith and humanity. Fr Steve.