Dear Friends,
Today is the Fifth Sunday of Easter so we are getting closer to Pentecost. Next Sunday is the Sixth Sunday and then comes Ascension Sunday and then Pentecost. The good news is that we are still in Easter and the Lord can pass for us today through these readings and the Eucharist. We can remain in the Lord even if Covid was still restricting us; when the Word is announced Christ is present and wants to be with us always.
Every Eucharist reminds us of the love of God is so great for us. The main point to make is to be a Christian, I need to live this gospel. There are two parts to it. First, you need to realize that if Christ is not in your life, you are not happy. If he is not with you, then you don’t have a life. But the one who has Christ is not afraid of death or anything else. Without Christ you are lost, your life is sad and bitter! If you understand this, then you can move to the second part. If you don’t see this then you are stuck.
There are many people today who know that if Christ remains in them as the gospel says today, then they will have fruit. They will bear a lot of fruit but only if they are united to Christ. And what is the fruit? It is to love! The second reading says it clearly: let us love not in word or speech but in deed or truth.
There are two attitudes today in the world. One is those who use a lot the word LOVE, but they don’t live it. We are all called to love in deeds, in our own life. To love the other until the end, until we cannot give anymore, because we are dead. To love that person to the end is to love without limits. The only limit for a Christian should be death; there are no other limits. If he is a Christian this is the fruit, he is called to give, and he cannot do it without Christ. He is the only one who loves. What we are speaking about here is this: do you love or don’t you? Do you have eternal life or not? Do you have Christ, or you don’t have him? Are you a Christian or not? This is the point. This is what the Word is trying to help us see. The Lord tells us, don’t be afraid, I am with you. I want to bear fruit in you.
The secret is this: alone you cannot do it. Alone you cannot bear fruit. You cannot love. And the second point is to see that it may take you thirty or forty years to see that you are not able to bear fruit. You are not able to love. Many who are here today still think that on their own they can bear fruit alone. They believe they can love and can beat pornography and can rebuild their marriage or be better parents and can forgive on their own. But you cannot, it is not possible; it is not in your nature.
It is a wonderful journey of faith that leads us to see how weak we are, that we live in darkness and to realize that we are blind. If we don’t realize we are blind, we don’t cry out to the Lord for light. It is like the Passover vigil that started in total darkness and truly reflected our life. We are in obscurity, in darkness. Often the light has gone out in our house and no matter how many times you hit the switch, there is no light. There is no electricity. If it does not come from the power station, or if the lines are not connected or the fixture is not working, then there is no light. It is the same if Christ does not give you this light, no matter how many times you hit the switch or the breaker, it will not come.
The same thing will happen if you try to be chaste without the Lord. You will see that day after day and night after night you are a lustful man. You will also see that day after day you cannot forgive and you experience that in your heart you want to kill the other one, or you think you are better than him/her, or that you cannot love anyone. When you experience this then you can move onto the second step, which is what? It is to remain in Him. How am I going to remain in him? Only if you live by being a branch connected with the vine. If the branch remains on its own or does not bear any fruit it is cut off and thrown into the fire. And if there is fruit, it is pruned so that it can bear more fruit. Why does the vine grower do this? Because if these branches are not cut off the grapes will not have flavor. They are sucking the sap from the vine, they are sucking life and not giving any fruit so cut them off.
This word is a call to conversion. I don’t know how many years I have left or how many years you have left to live. I am called to conversion today and hopefully the Lord will give me the power to love today! And tomorrow he will give me another word that will help me to love then. How do I remain in Christ? By staying inserted in the vine, which is the Church, the community. Where is Christ? He is in the community; this is the vine that gives me life. When united to Him I can bear fruit because he gives me the sap. He gives me the electricity, the health to be able to bear fruit, to be a light for myself and for others.
The world is waiting for this fruit, for this love and it will eat it up. It is desperate for this love. Why are there so many protests, so much violence on college campuses, so much injustice? Because the world is looking to be loved; the whole world seeks it. If you are not loved, you die. You shoot yourself or throw yourself off a bridge. A depressed person doesn’t feel loved by anyone; he doesn’t exist for anyone. The one who is not loved feels like he doesn’t exist. If there is someone who loves you, then you exist for that person. Your life has meaning and the depressed person changes. When you feel loved by God you can announce this to others because God loves them and they change, the person is transformed and is able to bear fruit. This can only be done if we are united with Christ in a Christian community.
It is in the community where we live the sacraments. This is where we live the eucharist and where we receive Jesus Christ. It is where we hear the Word of God and where we pray. The prayer of the community gives us life and courage. The will of God is that no one will be lost. God will be looking for him until the last moment. This is what he did with St. Paul as we hear in the first reading. Paul was looking for Christ but in his own way. He was a Pharisee and was looking for Christ. He was stunned when the Lord said to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me. If you persecute Christians, you are persecuting Christ because Christians are the branches united to the vine of Christ.
How beautiful is the fact that the fruit does not come out of the trunk of the vine but from the branches, from us. Christ wants to bear fruit in this world, and he can only do it through you: the branches. How can people come to love Christ, only through you!! Through your preaching, through your life, through your forgiveness, through your love for others. So do not be afraid, the Lord will grant us the grace to fulfill this mission of being a Christian, to give life and to love the other till the end.