From the Desk of Fr. Davis
April 28, 2024
Are you connected to the vine?
This weekend we hear in our Gospel the Lord's self description. He says, "I am the vine, you are the branches." Once again, our Easter season waltz through the Scriptures points to another foundational insight into our experience of being Church.
Christ has an intimate relationship with us. He is the vine. We are the branches. The challenge, of course, is to stay connected to the vine....and to maintain that connection in a healthy and robust way.
Some years ago, I had the privilege of living in Italy. I remember going on an expedition to see the vineyards in the central part of the country, near Orvieto, which produce some of the world -famous Italian wines. Although the fragrance in the air was distinctive, and wine tasting was a delight, this was not the most impactful aspect of the expedition. A priest friend of mine had walked me out into the vineyards themselves, and he pointed out to me the beautiful grape bushes, the vines, the branches, and the succulent clumps of grapes at the end of each of the branches. More than that, he called our attention to the fragile little "connector" shoots that joined the grapes to the cordon branches of the vine. It was a thin "lifeline" to the nutrients and hydration that the vine was to provide the grapes. This connector-shoot was the reason that the grapes were able to blossom into a gorgeously abundant clump of fruit, delightful to look at, thrilling to taste, but impossible to enjoy unless that connection to the vine were maintained healthy and intact until harvest. Of course, I also saw evidence of what happens when the connector-shoot was broken, severing the grapes from the vine. The grapes had fallen to the ground. They were shriveled up, lifeless, and dead.
When I think about it, it is a wonderful analogy to the intimate relationship we share with Christ. Insofar as we are connected to him, benefitting from the lifeline of spiritual nutrients and the grace of His divine life, we will bear abundant fruit. If not, if the connection is broken for some reason, or if it is not maintained healthy and intact, we dry up; we become lifeless, and die.
As we continue our journey through the Easter season, blessed with abundant evidences of grace, new converts, Baptisms, First Communions, Confirmations, Weddings, Easter water, and new Paschal light, we have to ask ourselves, "are we connected to the vine?" Are we allowing ourselves to be fed by the divine life which only God can provide us? Or, do we take for granted the very fragile "connection" that joins us to the life of grace? We should always see our spiritual journey in terms of the prayers found in the ritual of Baptism, which say that "the divine life which is given today may be kept safe from sin, so as to grow always stronger in [our] hearts." We need to grow in that divine life. We need to stay connected to the vine (Christ) through Word, Sacrament, prayer, community, and ministry within the mystical Body of Christ, the Church. It is then that we will be supple branches connected to the lifeline, producing succulent grapes. i.e. our lives, to the glory of the name of Christ Jesus, our Risen Lord. And so, today’s Gospel challenges us to stay connected to the vine. Why would we not?