 |
“Virgin and Child with a Bunch of Grapes”
by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1509-10 |
Readings for the Fifth Sunday
of Easter [2]
Readings from the Jerusalem
Bible [3]
Readings and Commentary: [4]
First Reading: Acts 9:26-31
When Saul arrived in Jerusalem he tried to join
the disciples,
but they were all afraid of him,
not believing that he was a disciple.
Then Barnabas took charge of him and brought him
to the apostles,
and he reported to them how he had seen the
Lord,
and that he had spoken to him,
and how in Damascus he had spoken out boldly in
the name of Jesus.
He moved about freely with them in Jerusalem,
and spoke out boldly in the name of the Lord.
He also spoke and debated with the Hellenists,
but they tried to kill him.
And when the brothers learned of this,
they took him down to Caesarea
and sent him on his way to Tarsus.
The church throughout all Judea, Galilee, and
Samaria was at peace.
It was being built up and walked in the fear of
the Lord,
and with the consolation of the Holy Spirit it
grew in numbers
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Commentary on Acts
9:26-31
This story of St. Paul’s return to Jerusalem, the first of six
mentioned in Acts, follows the first account of “Saul’s” conversion. It is the
same visit mentioned in Galatians 1:18. We see
how the news of his arrival is seen with alarm by the Apostolic College who
meets with him only after Barnabas intercedes for him. Even at this early
stage, St. Paul’s focus is on the Jews who were not from the region (“He
also spoke and debated with the Hellenists”).
St. Paul’s bold preaching earns him the same enmity he had earlier
encountered in Damascus (Acts
9:21), and he is forced to leave Jerusalem for his place of birth,
Tarsus. St. Luke concludes this episode saying that the newly formed church was
at peace and growing thanks to the efforts of the community.
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 22:26-27, 28, 30, 31-32
R. (26a) I will praise you, Lord, in
the assembly of your people.
or:
R. Alleluia.
I will fulfill my vows before those who fear the
LORD.
The lowly shall eat their fill;
they who seek the LORD shall praise him:
"May your hearts live forever!"
R. I will praise you, Lord, in the assembly of
your people.
or:
R. Alleluia.
All the ends of the earth
shall remember and turn to the LORD;
all the families of the nations
shall bow down before him.
R. I will praise you, Lord, in the assembly of
your people.
or:
R. Alleluia.
To him alone shall bow down
all who sleep in the earth;
before him shall bend
all who go down into the dust.
R. I will praise you, Lord, in the assembly of
your people.
or:
R. Alleluia.
And to him my soul shall live;
my descendants shall serve him.
Let the coming generation be told of the LORD
that they may proclaim to a people yet to be
born
the justice he has shown.
R. I will praise you, Lord, in the assembly of
your people.
or:
R. Alleluia.
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Commentary on Ps
22:26-27, 28, 30, 31-32
Psalm 22 is an individual lament. The psalmist, in unusually
passionate terms, describes the devotion of the faithful and the trust that
God’s rule over all will be just. The final strophe is a pledge of faithfulness
for all generations to come. The psalmist gives the response to God’s covenant.
It supports the idea from Hebrews 12:1-4 that
this act of worship is done in community by the individual. In fact, the song
presumes a communal worship of God. (“Let the coming generation be told of
the Lord that they may proclaim to a people yet to be born the justice he has
shown.”)
CCC: Ps 22 304; Ps 22:27 716
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Reading II: 1 John 3:18-24
Children, let us love not in word or speech
but in deed and truth.
Now this is how we shall know that we belong to
the truth
and reassure our hearts before him
in whatever our hearts condemn,
for God is greater than our hearts and knows
everything.
Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us,
we have confidence in God
and receive from him whatever we ask,
because we keep his commandments and do what
pleases him.
And his commandment is this:
we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus
Christ,
and love one another just as he commanded us.
Those who keep his commandments remain in him,
and he in them,
and the way we know that he remains in us
is from the Spirit he gave us.
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Commentary on 1 Jn
3:18-24
The ending of Chapter 3 from St. John’s first epistle speaks of
Christians living a life of faith in Jesus, and how, in that faith, they are
assured, through mutual love, that the faithful are in the Lord and the Lord
also resides in them. In adhering to this most important of commandments, the
Lord becomes indwelling. As a consequence of Christian obedience, the love of
Christ and love of each other naturally follows.
“The development of John’s thought in this section, and its
relation to his earlier teaching, can now be understood plainly. An
interpretative key is provided by the concepts of ‘abiding” or “remaining’
(using the verb “to abide”) and obedience, which link together John’s
successive ideas. In 2:6 he speaks of “abiding” in God through Jesus as
conditioned by an imitation of Christ’s example. Similarly ‘remaining in the
light,’ it is claimed, depends on obedience to the love command (2:7–11); just
as ‘living in the Son and in the Father’ is guaranteed by allowing the divine
Spirit and Word to ‘remain’ in us, and to produce the fruits of right belief
and right (loving) conduct (2:20–29).” [5]
CCC: 1 Jn 3:19-24 2845; 1 Jn 3:19-20 208, 1781; 1 Jn 3:21 2778; 1 Jn 3:22 2631
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Gospel: John 15:1-8
Jesus said to his disciples:
"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."
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Commentary on Jn 15:1-8
This selection begins the discourse on the vine
and the branches – really a monologue on the union with Jesus. It is part of
Jesus’ farewell speech. The familiar theme of the vineyard and the vines is
used which has imagery in common with Isaiah 5:1-7; Matthew 21:33-46 and as a
vine at Psalm 80:9-17; Jeremiah 2:21; Ezekiel 15:2; 17:5-10; 19:10; Hosea 10:1, the identification of the vine as the Son of Man in Psalm 80:15 and wisdom's
description of herself as a vine in Sirach 24:17. This monologue becomes a unifying tie that pulls the entire
farewell speech together.
"The wood of the vine is the more contemptible if it does not
abide in the vine, and the more glorious if it does abide. [...] For, being cut
off it is profitable neither for the vinedresser nor for the carpenter. For one
of these only is it useful--the vine or the fire. If it is not in the vine, it
goes to the fire; to avoid going to the fire it must be joined to the
vine" (St. Augustine "In Ioann. Evang.", 81, 3).
CCC: Jn 15:1-17 1108; Jn 15:1-5 755; Jn 15:1-4 1988; Jn 15:3 517; Jn 15:4-5 787; Jn 15:5 308, 737, 859, 864,
1694, 2074, 2732; Jn 15:7 2615; Jn 15:8 737
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Reflection:
“I am the vine, you are the branches;”
The Gospel of story from St. John’s Gospel is
like a familiar place we go to visit that floods us with pleasant and peaceful
memories. “I am the vine, you are the branches”; that phrase gives us a
feeling of being connected with Christ in a very personal way. At my
house I have a vine. Some years back I built a small deck off the back of
my house about 10 by 16 feet, and over the deck we built an arbor. I planted
one wild grape vine the same year it was finished and let it grow up and over
the arbor. It was for shade rather than grapes. That single vine
grew to cover the entire arbor, draping down all four sides in a few short
years. When people look at the cover it provides, they often think there
are several vines, but it’s just one. Each year now I have to keep it
trimmed because it tries to grow onto the roof of my house. It clings to the
siding and grows into shrubs at the sides. It’s because of this trimming
I noticed something remarkable about grape vines. Once the branch is cut
from the vine – it withers almost immediately.
The monologue Jesus is starting with the Gospel
today, beyond that feeling of connectedness, has other meanings and I thought I
would tell a story to draw those out.
Many centuries ago, in a remote part of Northern
Europe, on a small island in the Baltic Sea there was the small village, Varge.
What was unique about Varge was, because it was so remote, it became insulated
from the outside world. Its Christian founders initially had no clergy,
only their basic understanding of the faith given to them by their ancestors.
After some years a missionary priest joined them, and this branch was once more
connected to the vine.
For two hundred years there were virtually
no outside visitors to their community. Infrequent merchants had to come
by boat over often inhospitable seas and there was nothing of real value at
Varge so the little trade there was, did not connect the town to civilization.
Like many small, isolated communities the family
units in Varge were very closely knit. The community, in fact, was so
interdependent that it was very much like an extended family. The values
held and taught in the community were those passed on by the missionary priest
who was the moral and spiritual guide of the island’s inhabitants.
Children in that community belonged to everyone; were watched over and taught
by everyone. All in all, they were happy and content, for the most part.
Living in the community was a young boy named
Jon. Jon’s mother and father had died when he was quite young. His
mother had died in childbirth and his father a few years later in a fishing
accident. Jon was bitter. He didn’t like the fact that his aunt and
uncle, who had raised him as one of their own, made him work. When he was
not being taught by Fr. Charles with the other children, he had to work with
his uncle George, mending nets or baiting long lines (Varge was a fishing
village after all). Jon didn’t like all the rules and every time he tried
to sneak off and have some fun, someone from the village seemed to notice and
soon his Aunt Martha or uncle would be giving him extra chores or making him go
to bed early.
George and Martha loved Jon and tried to tell
him that the life of faith and work would lead to peace in this life and the next,
but Jon knew in his heart that there was something better.
In the spring, when George was 15, a trader came
to the island. It was an exciting time for Varge. News of the
outside world was always welcome (although not always pleasant). In this
case the news was very bad. There was black plague in Poland and people were
dying by the hundreds. Jon heard this with dread because as soon as the
news had reached him that a trader’s barge was sighted, he had made a
decision. He’d had enough of Aunt Martha and Uncle George; he’d had
enough of Father Charles telling him that being connected to Christ was
important for him. He didn’t need Christ and he didn’t need his aunt and
uncle. He would hide out on the trader’s barge and make his own way in
the world.
Not thinking of the possible consequences for
himself or for his family, Jon packed a bundle of dried fish and goat cheese, a
small flask of water and hid in the cargo hold of the small barge the trader
used to visit the islands. Jon had to time it just right because his aunt
and uncle said night prayers each night and Jon was required to join
them. He knew, with a fisherman’s sense of wind and tides, that the
trader would leave very early the next morning so, after everyone had gone to
bed, he snuck out his window and got in the boat, hiding among the barrels of
fish in the hold.
The boat had not been at sea very long when Jon
started to regret his decision. It was cold and smelly. A few times
he was awakened by rats running across his feet. When the boat docked a
few days later, Jon was able to sneak off, but he smelled badly of rotting fish
and bilge water. He was in the good sized city of Ventspils in what is today
Estonia. He did not speak the language (only Polish) and was almost
instantly lost. You see Jon, although he did not know it, had grown up in
a community that loved him and cared for him, even when he didn’t want to be
cared for. Here, no one cared if he was hungry or cold. They did
not care if his stomach hurt or if he needed a bath and dry clothes. When
he did realize this, he was stunned. He wanted to go back but his pride
would not let him. He had cut himself off from the vine and saw no way
out. He began to wilt like a grape leaf plucked from its vine.
Finally, so hungry he was looking for rats to
eat, he begged for food from merchants along the docks. The first week he
didn’t have much luck, he was kicked and hit for being a pest by many of the
merchants. Having him around was bad for business. Ironically,
being bruised from the kicks and slaps coupled with his filthy cloths and
sickly pallor got him some food scraps, mostly from wives who felt sorry for
him. But his condition worsened, and no one would help. He slept in
the streets and became quite ill. It was in this condition he was found
by Father Dominick. It seems that, once Father Charles had been told of
Jon’s disappearance by his aunt and uncle, they figured out what he had done
and had sent a message to Father Charles’ Abbot. The Abbot had sent word
to his priests to keep an eye out for a young boy in trouble. It was only by
the grace of God that Fr. Dominick had found him in time. Jon was rescued
and reunited with his family. While they forgave him immediately, it took
Jon a while to forgive himself. Eventually they all lived happily ever
after.
The vine and branches analogy works well in
reminding us of our relationship to the life-giving vine. Unlike the
grape vine, whose branches wither and die quickly, Jesus the vine will always
welcome back a branch cut away by foolishness, indifference, anger, or
sloth. The branch will be healed and once more be invited to bear fruit.
As people of God, we are all encouraged to reach
out to those who have cut themselves off from the life-giving vine. The
small faith-sharing groups formed during Lent and still meeting are one way we
strengthen our ties to the living vine.
There will be more ways you can reach out to the lost in the coming
months; to the "Jons" in your life to bring them back. That is
the miracle of the vine and the branches – the Good Shepherd and his
sheep. We are called to seek the lost and bring them back. It is never
too late to find ones who are lost and invite them back to a joyful welcome.
Pax
In other years on this date: Optional Memorials
for Saint
Louis Mary De Montfort, Priest
or Saint Peter Chanel, Priest and
Martyr
[1]
Catechism links are taken from the
Homiletic Directory, Published by the Congregation for
Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 29 June 2014
[2] The picture is “Virgin and Child with a Bunch of
Grapes” by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1509-10[3]
S.S.
Commemoratio[4]
The
readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm
and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is
for private use only.[5]
Stephen S. Smalley, 1, 2, 3 John, vol. 51, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas:
Word, Incorporated, 1984), 213.
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