2024-04-28 09:12:53
Abide in Me.
Friends, peace and goodness.
After considering the Gospel of the Good Shepherd, we move on to consider Jesus as the true vine. One flock, one vine. Good examples, to think about what Christ should mean to each of us.
We continue to walk with the early Church. We help its development and growth, with great acceptance, inspired by the Holy Spirit. We again encounter a familiar figure: Paul, the persecutor, has become Paul, the herald of Christ. The Christians of Damascus take him by surprise. Fairly. He had gone to their city to release them, arrest them, and bring them to Jerusalem. It usually triggered a “restraint” in them. Fortunately Barnabas is a little more open and accepts God’s will.
The sight of God is not like the sight of men. It seems to us that it is difficult, if not impossible, for people to change. But what seems impossible to us is not impossible to God. This is why the worst person can eventually become a saint. And vice versa. The worst thing, perhaps, is to be able to change, to escape the suspicion of the so-called “good people”, the lack of trust in the behavior and intentions of the one who changes. I hope we are not tripping up those who want to walk towards E, because they want to stop being sinners.
In word and deed. Not just in thought. The Apostle John wants us to love what we say and what we do. Not only in words, as the prophet Isaiah denied in his time: “This people praise me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” (Yes 29, 13)
Perhaps, if we review our lives, we will see that we have not always been faithful to the word given. Many times our strength goes out of our mouth, we fall into the same mistakes, we follow our faults and the bad habits condition us. And, therefore, to tell ourselves that nothing can be changed, we condemn ourselves before the trial. Because we think that God also condemns us and He condemns us. And it’s not like that.
What Saint John reminds us today is that if we are able to love in spite of everything, we are fulfilling the commandments, and we can be proud and proud to be children of God, because which the Gospel reminded us last week. And that God is able to see the love we have, that we put into every action and every relationship we have. He wants our salvation, not our condemnation.
In the Gospel we see the Good Shepherd from another perspective, as a true vine. Sweet, abundant fruit is expected from the vine. The fruits of love and justice are expected from the branches that are the disciples. In order to have good results, it is necessary to dedicate time to the cultivation and care of the vine. Jesus himself acts as a vinedresser, pruning and cutting everything that does not allow us to grow. Pruning is painful to suffer, but if everything that does not allow us to grow is cut, such as pride, laziness, anger, in short, our small and big sins, it is worth the purification.
It is in this way, planted in the vine, clean of dry and unproductive branches, that we can bear much fruit, how we can be carriers of God’s love and even go so far as to give him our lives For example , united with him like the branch to the vine
Not everything is easy on this path. We look at the cross, and realize how hard it is to get to the end. But, united to the vine, we can do all things. Living is already difficult, but living as a Christian is even more complicated. But those moments of difficulty can be our pruning, purifying moments. This increases the possibility of bearing fruit.
We must understand that the progress of the Kingdom depends on our small or large fruits. Christ gave his life for all. Our union with the vine makes us the spokesperson and continuation of the Master’s work. Because we are all brothers in Christ, children of the same God. That is why it is important to take care of our growth, so that the vine does not stop growing.
In this way, during these weeks of Easter, we have reflected on the primitive community, the Nascent Church, which helps to find the Risen One, who recognizes him in the Eucharist and feels close to him in the pastors of that Church. Now, the juice that nourishes the vine encourages us to continue growing to be witnesses and speak to the whole world about God’s great love for us. The Apostles did it before. It’s your turn.
Your brother in the faith,
Alejandro Carbajo, CMF
#Commentary #Sunday #Easter