APRIL 29, 2018
9:00 AM, 10:30 AM ORDINARY FORM (ENGLISH) MASSES
I had the occasion recently to have dinner with the parents of an old friend with whom I served in the US Navy. Over twenty years ago, he and I were enlisted Sailors deployed to northern Japan. Part of being in the military is saluting. As enlisted men, we saluted officers; but we were not saluted.
His mother related that when he was serving aboard an aircraft carrier – that is, a traveling city – that he waited in a long line of enlisted Sailors to go ashore, while the officers got to cut to the front of the line.
This (his mother said), among other things, motivated him to go forward and become an officer.
And while the privileges of being an officer are immediately apparent – being saluted, and getting to move to the front of the line for the liberty boat – the responsibilities, of course, are also greater.
Today is the Fifth Sunday of Easter.
In the Gospel we hear Jesus tell us “I am the vine.” This statement is the seventh and last of Jesus’ “I AM” statements recorded in St. John’s Gospel.
In this simile of the vine and the branches, Our Lord points out that the branches have the privilege of sharing the life of the vine, but also have the responsibility of remaining on the vine. This is an admonition for us to remain united with Jesus Christ in order to share the Divine Life He offers us.
In sharing the life of Christ, we then have the opportunity to “bear much fruit.” Not for ourselves, but for God and for the Kingdom of God.
Today’s pericope is only the first half of the story, though.
Jesus goes on in the second half of this discourse to tell the disciples that they are more than slaves or servants, but that they are His friends. This statement applies also to us.
As His friends, we have the privilege of knowing His will, but also have the responsibility of remaining in His will. Through this, we not only share in His joy, but our joy is perfected in living out God’s will.
And finally, at the very end of this section of John’s Gospel, Jesus gives the great commandment … summarizing this all with the mandate to “love one another.”
The more we open ourselves to God’s will, the more we find our own will aligning with God’s will. This in turn strengthens the life of God – what we call grace, mercy, and love – in us, and more closely unites us to God in Christ. And through that union, we are better able to not only love as He loves, but to become vehicles of God’s grace, mercy, and love to the wider world.
As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, let us pray for the graces we need to grow in our relationship to Christ – by remaining in him and by sharing in His Divine life. And as his disciples and friends, members of His Body, may we deepen our knowledge of God’s will and become more aligned with the Holy Will of God in all that we say and all that we do … so that we may experience the perfect joy of Christ Jesus, Our Lord.
