Stay Connected

Fifty years ago, I was in my first weeks of seminary formation in Rome. At the end of September, my class of new seminarians was thrilled to attend the papal audience with Pope John Paul II. I was blessed to greet the Holy Father, personally, and shake his hand that day. Following the audience, we went by bus to Assisi for a 3-day weekend and were able to pray at the tomb of St. Francis on his Feast Day, October 4th. The guest house where we stayed had its own vineyard, which I found so interesting. As a farm kid from Nebraska, I had never been around a vineyard or observed grapes on the vine. After lunch I walked among the vines for a closer look. I was fascinated to observe how far down the vine these beautiful clusters of grapes were hanging from the point at which the vine came out of the ground. It impressed upon me our Lord’s words in John 15:1-8 when he said, “I am the vine and you are the branches. He who remains in me will bear much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” Years later, “Remain in Me” would become my motto as bishop – taken from the vine and the branches passage.

This past Sunday’s Scripture readings centered around the image of a vineyard. The prophet Isaiah said, “The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his cherished plant.” And in the gospel, Jesus uses a vineyard parable to underscore the lack of faithfulness in Israel saying that he would lease his vineyard to those who will produce its fruit. Along those lines, the quality of fruit our lives bear depends upon our union with Christ, or perhaps our separation from him in daily life.

Baptism was the grace that established each of us in the vineyard of the Lord. Throughout our lives, the sacraments nourish our faith, hope and love for God, especially the Eucharist, that we might bear good fruit, just as the vine nourishes the cluster of grapes. Furthermore, the gifts of the Holy Spirit in Confirmation strengthen us to “remain in Christ,” attached to the vine as it were, so that we might bear good fruit. Truly, the single most helpful thing we can do for our soul is to “stay connected” to the vine, which is Christ, to remain in him.”

Now our connection to Christ comes to us through the sacramental life of the Church. Jesus commissioned the disciples to preach the gospel, to heal the sick, to cast out demons, and some even raised the dead! Throughout our lives our Lord is providing for us with a constant flow of grace so that we may bear good fruit as his disciples. God is nourishing our faith in every Mass as we reflect on the Sacred Scriptures proclaimed. He is re-uniting us to the vine as we are flooded with his mercy in the sacrament of penance and as we are united with his Sacred Body and Blood in Holy Communion. We thrive in faith as branches on the vine as the Lord nourishes us day after week after month after year.

Though our sanctification is mostly unnoticeable, it is no less real. Also perhaps imperceptible is the effect of our faith on others. Little do we know how much others may notice and be inspired and encouraged by our faithful discipleship. I most often discover this in the letters I receive from students who are preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation. When I ask them, “who inspires you the most in your faith,” it is often a grandparent, a parent, a coach or the parent of one of their friends. Our “remaining on the vine” by regularly receiving the sacraments has an effect on others. It’s a subtle way in which we bear good fruit.

On the other hand, when we no longer stay connected to Christ the vine, we lack the vitality and fruitfulness that comes from “remaining in Christ.” Without daily prayer, reflection on the Sacred Scriptures, participation at Mass, celebrating the feast days of the lives of the saints, regular confession of our sins, and carrying out the works of mercy, our faith withers and fades. In St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians (Sunday’s 2nd Reading) we hear this: “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

Remaining as branches on the vine, however, is not primarily about our getting to heaven. That would be a very utilitarian way of looking at faith and our life in the Church. First and foremost, the Lord “plants us” in his vineyard for the sake of HIS GLORY! The fruit we are to bear points to his sovereignty over us and brings him honor. Frankly, either we live to please the Lord or to please ourselves. If we pray daily, go to Mass, read the bible, study the catechism, celebrate feast days on the Church calendar and carry out the works of mercy in order to get to heaven, or to get anything else from God, we are misguided. We can’t earn anything by our faithfulness. Rather, we do all these things simply because we exist for the praise of his glory (Ephesians 1:12), as a RESPONSE to his saving love for us.

Going back to our image of a beautiful cluster of grapes on the vine, the cluster of grapes is a testimony to all the vitality that produced it coming through the vine. So, too, our genuine goodness, our faithful worship of God, our loving service of others, our imitation of the lives of the saints, and more, is all a reflection of what GOD has done for us, of the graces we have received because we have STAYED CONNECTED to the Lord as disciples of Jesus. Put simply, when people “thank God for us,” they are giving him glory on account of us. And what they are noticing is the life of grace we have received because we have remained as branches on the vine, who is Christ.

The Christian life bears much fruit if we but remain in Christ. If we allow what we receive from Sunday Mass, from our daily prayer and meditation, from our generous service of others and from our study of the saints in heaven (and those in the towns where we live) to nourish our faith. As disciples of Jesus, let us bear witness to the vitality that is ours in Christ by how transparent our Lord seems to be when we remain in Him!

Let me leave you with this...
Jesus said, “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.”
(John 15: 1-8)