The Ascension
Beloved in the Lord, after Jesus Christ rose from the dead, he spent 40 days with many of his disciples – that’s a month and a half. They lived and spoke with Jesus, passed time with him – with the only man who has ever gloriously risen from the dead.
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They saw in Christ, this future which could be theirs as well. St. John writes about that experience: ‘I write of what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked upon and our hands have touched: the Word of Life.’
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For 3 years Christ had tried to teach them of his plan for humanity. But it didn’t sink in. Now, for 40 days, they could see it for themselves: a glorified man. You can just hear their elation in the writings of the Apostles: ‘We now testify and announce to you, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, the Life Eternal which has appeared to us.’
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Friends, we ourselves will not only be resurrected one day, God-willing, but we will also be taken to heaven to be united with God. Jesus shows us this: at the end of his earthly life, he Ascended up to Paradise – we are supposed to follow him: ‘And it came to pass as he blessed them, that he was carried up into heaven and a cloud took him out of their sight.
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Today we celebrate the Ascension of Christ into heaven. The Holy Scriptures tell us that after Jesus had disappeared from sight, the apostles were looking up at the sky, and this shows us that their minds were now on heaven.
– Our minds should be on heaven –
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A good friend of mine, when his mother suddenly died, he was devastated. He felt lost without his mother. But a friend gave him a book to read about heaven; for the first time in his life, he really understood how important are the promises of Jesus and our Holy Faith. ‘Now I know, that Mom is not dead, but alive,’ he said; ‘and if I can get to heaven I will be with her again.’ His life changed, because now his mind was on getting to heaven.
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Our whole life is rushing toward this goal; heaven is our hope.
Hope is the desire for something that will fulfill our happiness. Hope is always on something that is not so easy to obtain, but it is obtainable.
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A boy being trained by his coach has hope that he will win. Hope in achieving his goal, makes him work hard; and this hope of victory already gives him happiness.
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A man told me, ‘when I first met my future wife, I said ‘I want to marry that girl.’ That was his hope. Hope is for something somewhat difficult to achieve, but possible. He had to work at it; he had to show the girl he was a man of good character and complete his education – yet in all of this he was driven by hope: hope that he could win her hand.
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When a goal that we desire cannot be achieved, then hope is gone; we experience despair. Many today are without hope. Some don’t believe they can achieve any goals. ‘I’ll never find a job; ‘I’ll never find a good husband;’ ‘I can’t pass these classes.’ To be without any hope, is despair and that means sadness. Others, because of past failures, become jaded and cynical, and this too is lacking in any hope.
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Another requirement for hope is that the goal we have can be achieved, but it will not be easy to achieve. If a girl from a rich family is spoiled: given a new car, a huge allowance, college all paid-for, and anything she wants; she may have no hope, because hope is for a goal that is not easy to achieve; but if everything is easy, she has no hope. So we can see how important it is in life to have hope, it is important for our happiness.
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Now attaining many of these goals – winning the track meet, marrying the girl – fulfilling our hopes – once achieved, we are not always so fulfilled. And this is because earthly hopes are important, but they are not the real source of happiness.
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If you read the life of St. Alphonsus, you will see that SO MANY things did not work out for him; his plans fell apart many times; and on top of it all, his health was utterly horrible. When he was 52 years old he believed the end of his life was near because his body was totally falling apart. Little did he know that he had yet 40 more painful years to live!
He had arthritis in his back so bad, that he could no longer lift his head off of his chest – 19 years like that. But in all of this and all his failed projects, he never lost hope. Why? Because under all those ‘little hopes’ of his projects, was a much larger, underlying hope: hope in Jesus, hope in heaven.
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The Lord’s Ascension up to heaven gives us hope, because he leads the way. The apostles were not sad when Jesus Ascended, it says that they had great joy. The Ascension gave them the certainty that they had a friend, not only on earth but in heaven. And this filled them with the hope that not only would they see him again, but that Jesus would be living in them, working with them.
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We have our hopes and dreams, we have hopes for certain earthly projects, which may or may not work out as we wish. But our joy and peace should always be grounded in the great hope of a Christian. As St. Paul says: ‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace, so that by the Holy Spirit you may ever abound in hope.
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Hope in Jesus – hope in heaven, this leads us to someone else too, who will help us: Mary. What did the Apostles do after the Ascension? It says that they returned to Jerusalem to pray with Mary. They went right to their Mother.
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Let us too stay close to this Mother during our time on earth, until we rejoice with her and with Jesus in the glory of heaven.
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[Entrusted to the prayers of Mother Teresa]
Friends in Christ, today is the Feast of St. Isidore the Farmer. St. Isidore was a farmer in 11th century Spain. Early in his life he fled the approaching Muslim invasion of Spain, and obtained farm work near Madrid. He married Maria Torribia who was a peasant girl. Together they had one son, but he died as a child. They spent their lives as farmers, faithfully doing their daily work.
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Isidore was a man who trusted God, a man of prayer. While walking behind the plow or bailing hay, he thought often of the Lord. Despite hours of hard work, he went to daily Mass. This love of God led Isidore and his wife to be very generous with themselves in love of neighbor, especially assisting the poor living in the city slums. Both Isidore and Maria were declared saints – at that time, the only husband and wife saints, although there are more now.
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We can learn a great deal from them. They did not do what we would call ‘heroic things.’ They lived their daily life so as to give glory to God. God HAS raised up saints who have done great miracles, but the majority of us are called to offer our simple daily life to God, as a gift to him.
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We begin our day with a morning offering. ‘Lord, I offer everything to you. ‘Let my words and my work and my thoughts be holy and pleasing to you.’ We do our work well as a gift to God. We encounter Jesus in our workmates; we do housework in patience; we see children, not as a chore but as a divine mission. Praying at meals, the Angelus at noon; we punctuate the day with prayer, but the entire day is filled with aspirations of love of God. ‘Lord, I love you.’ ‘O Holy Spirit, help me in this task.’ At nightfall, we kneel and thank the Lord, and briefly examine our conscience, make an act of sorrow for our sins. Ask the Blessed Virgin’s help at night.
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This is the life of a saint to which we are called, holiness in the little things, doing them for God. And this was the humble, faithful life of St. Isidore the farmer.
Friends in Christ, today is the Feast of St. Matthias, the Apostle. According to tradition, Matthias was one of the 72 disciples that the Lord sent out, two-by-two during his ministry, and this is affirmed by the historian Eusebius and by St. Jerome as well. He had been there with Jesus and the apostles from day one, and he had seen Jesus resurrected, this is known from the Acts of the Apostles.
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What more do we know about St. Matthias? He was assigned to preach the gospel in Judea, and in so doing he wrought many miracles. Later, he went to Cappadocia, the mountainous part of central Turkey, then to the region by the Caspian Sea. He endured persecution and ill-treatment from the savage people with whom he worked; he was martyred by crucifixion and then chopped apart.
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A legend tells us that enemies once gave Matthias a poisoned drink that had blinded everyone who drank it, but he drank it in the name of Christ, and it did him no harm. More than 250 people had been blinded by the drink, and Matthias restored their sight by laying his hand on each of them.
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Matthias received so many blessings and graces from Christ – but these virtues and gifts were built upon solid human virtues, which they must be. In his life, it is said that Matthias always tried to be virtuous. He was careful to put into practice what he taught others, he persevered with patience when things were difficult, and was not over-confident or proud when things went well. Above all, he was known for purity. Clement of Alexandria says[i] that he was remarkable for his insistence on mortifying the flesh to subdue sensual appetites, a lesson he learned from Christ himself.
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Matthias replaced Judas who turned away from the Faith. In our own life, even among friends and relatives there are those who have left the Way. But we should be like St. Matthias, who undaunted, nevertheless continues on. He is the patron saint of recovering alcoholics, carpenters, and tailors.
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[i] He repeats the actual words of St. Matthias: ‘It behooves us to combat the flesh, and make use of it, without pampering it by unlawful gratifications. As to the soul, we must develop her power by faith and knowledge.’
Beloved in Christ, today is the feast of Our Lady of Fatima, and this appearance of Mary in Portugal begins with children: Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta.
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In the summer of 1916, all of the sudden, an Angel appeared to them, in fact many times. The following year, on May 13, a flash of lightning prepared the way for a beautiful Lady, and this Lady asked the children to pray for the conversion of sinners and an end to the war. Further apparitions took place on June 13 and July 13, and people began to hear about what was happening.
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In August, the children were prevented by local authorities from going. In fact, the Mayor, who was a Freemason, tried to terrorize the children; he put them in jail, and threatened to boil them in oil if they did not give up their stories. But even under such threats, the children simply told the truth of what was happening. Ultimately they were released, and they kept their appointment with the Lady two days later.
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Now the children had been saying that the Lady would provide a miracle on October 13th, and so a vast crowd gathered on that day, estimated to be 70,000 people. It was then that the miracle of the sun occurred, the sun spinning, appearing to tumble from the sky and crash toward earth, and although everyone had been soaked from the earlier rain, they found that they were completely dry. The miracle of the sun was reported by journalists in many newspapers, and of these journalists.
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The Lady identified herself to the children as the Lady of the Rosary. At Fatima, Mary has urged that prayers for sinners be made, that we do penance, and that the Rosary be recited. Why does this Blessed Virgin appear again and again in this world? To help us, and to give us hope.
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‘But I feel lost, I am caught in so many bad habits,’ you say. ‘I try to pray, but fall into so many sins. What will become of me?’ Richard of St. Lawrence[i] says, no matter how nauseous and revolting our sins may be, this good Mother of ours is unable to abandon us when we call on her.
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If we remember that Canaanite woman[ii] in the gospels when she begged Our Lord to deliver her daughter from the devil who possessed her, she said, ‘Lord, have mercy on me, my daughter is troubled by a devil.’ But since the daughter, and not the mother was tormented, she should have said, ‘Have mercy on my daughter;’ but no. She says, ‘Have mercy on ME.’ She says this because the sufferings of their children are felt by the mother as if they were their own. It is precisely in this way that Mary prays for us: ‘Have mercy on ME O Lord,’ ‘help my child,’ she says.
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Let us pray our Rosary very well today.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us and help us.
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[i] Glories of Mary, p. 134
[ii] Ibid., p. 74.
Friends in Christ, today is the feast of Saints Nereus and Achilleus. They lived back in the 1st century, and were baptized by St. Peter himself. They were servants of the niece of the Emperor. Her name was Domitilla. Now the day came when Domitlla was preparing to get married. As she was putting on her jewels and wedding garments, Nereus and Achilleus began to explain to her how great it was to live as virgins for Christ, for they had made a promise of virginity. They showed her that virginity was dear to God and an imitation of Christ.
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Friends in Christ, today is the feast of Saints Nereus and Achilleus. They lived back in the 1st century, and were baptized by St. Peter himself. They were servants of the niece of the Emperor, her name was Domitilla.
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Now the day came when Domitlla was preparing to get married. As she was putting on her wedding garments and her jewelry, Nereus and Achilleus began to explain to her how great it was to live as virgins for Christ, for they had made a promise of virginity. They showed her that virginity was dear to God and an imitation of Christ.
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Now Domitilla admired these young Christians, and as they explained the beauty of virginity, she decided to renounce her marriage; she was baptized, and received the veil of a Consecrated virgin from Pope Clement himself. Pledged now as a virgin, she converted many to the Christian Faith because of her influence.
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Her husband-to-be, Aurellian, was outraged by all of this. Some of these new Christians he put into forced labor on his estate, and at night he gave them dog food to eat. But they would not leave the Faith, and so he had one beaten to death, and another he suffocated.
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A third man, Marcos – he ordered that an enormous rock be dropped onto him, but instead, Marcos miraculously carried the rock on his shoulders for 2 miles as if it were light as a feather – many more converted to the Catholic Faith by this miracle alone.
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Aurellian banned Nereus and Achilleus and sent them into exile on the island of Pontus, until they should change their mind. But they did not. So they were ordered to their death. They showed the courage of Christians, and were beheaded about the year 80.
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Next Aurellian dragged Domitilla forcibly to his wedding. He ordered the musicians to play music for entertainment and dancing. Meanwhile, Domitilla prayed to God that this marriage would not be. Aurellian, upon hearing the music, began uncontrollably to dance. He danced, and danced, and danced… No matter how much he tried, he could not stop dancing, and after 2 days he fell over dead. His brother, outraged by this, set fire to the house, and so Domitilla also, became a martyr for Jesus Christ.
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In the early years of the Faith, martyrdom was and still is, the greatest thing one could do with one’s life. But as with these women saints today, virginity is another way to give a bold witness to Christ with one’s life.
Friends in the Lord, after the resurrection, Jesus Christ spent 40 days on this earth with his Apostles. They experienced his presence in his glorified body, speaking with them, teaching them I suppose, how to be good priests, and eating with them. That is the time we are in now, since Easter.
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But the time is drawing nearer for the Ascension, and Our Lord tells them that he is going to send an Advocate, this Holy Spirit, who will teach them and guide them. But Jesus was not only speaking about them, he was speaking about us, each member of the Church. In Baptism, we receive the Holy Spirit and in a new way in Confirmation. We receive the 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit: ‘Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge, Counsel, Fortitude, Piety, and Fear of the Lord.’
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We have at times, spoken of each Gift in detail, let us today take a closer look at the Gift of Piety. Piety brings to our hearts a child-like affection for God, and a respectful love toward things related to God.
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As we’ve said before, the Gifts of the Holy Spirit are infused into us, they are not gained by our own work or effort. That is why they are called ‘Gifts,’ but we must act on them. The Gift of piety makes us see in God not just our Master and Lord, but a loving Father. As St. Paul said, ‘You have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry out Abba, Father.’
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Piety gives us a sense of confidence and love, without losing the reverence that we owe to God. Piety can bring a sweetness to our prayers and spiritual excercises, and a real desire to sacrifice for the glory of God.
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The true effects of this Gift are not emotional or sentimental. It does not lead us into consolation-seeking daydreams; true piety seeks to do the will of God out of love; an affectionate obedience. The Gift of Piety leads us to a total abandonment into the will of God, knowing that this loving Father knows far better than we do what is good for us.
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Piety leads us also to love those persons who are associated with our Father-God. The Blessed Virgin, the saints, the angels. We revere the Holy Scriptures, which is a love-letter from our Father. It leads us to a love of Holy Mother Church, and to any who are in authority over us, especially parents.
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Without this Gift, God seems to be our Master, prayer is a burden, trials are punishments, and the commandments are a burden. But with the Gift of Piety, anything we do or experience for our Father in heaven is sweet.
Beloved in Jesus Christ, in 1550, a woman very much wanted a child, and finally that child was born, whom she named ‘Camillus.’ But instead of being a joy to her, the boy caused her many sorrows. Camillus had a violent temper, he rarely went to school, and he was stubborn and lazy. Sadly, his mother died when he was only 12 years old.
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From then on, Camillus followed in the footsteps of his irresponsible father. He became addicted to gambling and learned about every sin there was. With his father, he hired himself out for fighting in wars, and – well his life spiraled downward for a long time.
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But after many years of a disastrous life, and after the death of his father, Camillus changed. He wanted to change – to give up his sinful ways, and help others. Eventually he would become famous for his compassion and care of the sick, and we would come to know him today as: St. Camillus.
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Why did he change? What was it, that led him to leave his evil life and become a great saint? If you read books about him, you will find one thing that they always say: He never forgot the love of his mother.
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Today is Mother’s Day, it is a day we think about this beautiful gift given only to some: to be a mother. One need only look through history to see how many great people were influenced by their mother. Thomas Edison said: “My mother was the making of me; I felt I had something to live for, someone I must not disappoint.”
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“My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw,’ said George Washington, ‘All I am I owe to my mother.
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And Abraham Lincoln said; “All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother.”
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Nowadays, many don’t wish to be mothers; they wish to live only for themselves. ‘My condo, my live-in-boyfriend, my dog – it’s all I need.’
Civilization itself, in Europe and the US is dying, because so few wish to be mothers. No babies, no future.
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Although this is the situation, it is also nevertheless true, that there are still many very good and generous mothers keeping the world alive.
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Mothers come in different sizes, personalities, and styles; there is no ‘one way’ to be a good mother. Some work outside the home to make ends meet, some keep a business from their home. Other moms may do volunteer work in the community, but otherwise are dedicated to domestic work and a near-fulltime raising of children; some oversee the direct education of their kids, as for example in a homeschooling family which can only be done with an energetic, full-time mom at home. There is no one ‘rule’ for how to be a mother.
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For centuries, most families were raised on a farm, and mom was busy with kids and cows and chickens, all at the same time. The Holy Scriptures show us that women were often helping support the family: Proverbs (31) says, the good woman puts her hands to the spindle and makes garments for her home and also sells them; with her own hands she plants a vineyard and she looks well to the ways of her household; her children rise up and call her blessed.’ Would that children today would rise up and call their mother blessed.
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The Church does not insist on any certain way that a mother build up her home, and as we have said, many mothers must work outside the home; today there is plenty of encouragement for this approach; but let us today speak of the loving, domestic work of the home to which many mothers have committed themselves.
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St. Josemaria has said that today there is disdain, even a loathing, for those committed to working in their home; domestic work is ridiculed, and is called ‘exploitation,’ merely because others benefit from this careful work.
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A woman who pours herself out selflessly, putting in long hours at the company office is called ‘dedicated,’ and she is an asset to the company. ok.
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But when another pours herself out, selflessly putting in many hours to make a home warm, and clean, and holy – she is sometimes ridiculed as being a servant to others. But how is being at the service of one’s family of LESS importance than being of service to a corporation and it’s stockholders?
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In the eyes of God, there is no distinction at all between ‘higher’ and ‘lower’ classes of work. The value of one’s work is the amount of love with which it is done, and therefore, it is precisely domestic work in the home for one’s family that really stands out as valuable.
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St. Josemaria, who urged people to sanctify their work, even in the smallest things – he was once speaking to a reporter who questioned the value of homemaking. He said, ‘Let us not forget that although some people consider work in the home as demeaning, it is not so at all. Such work is just as valuable as that of a teacher or a judge.’
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We can and must certainly declare, that too many mothers are not appreciated. The Holy Sciptures tell us: ‘Children, do not forget the birth pangs of your mother (Sirach 7:27) and forsake not your mother’s teaching (Prov 13:1). Yet many good mothers remain in the background, quietly helping the family with little recognition.
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A boy was angry after the laundry. ‘Where are my favorite sports socks?! Did they get thrown out?!’ Then he realized that his mother was mending a hole in them.
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In many ways a mother has to be like God. God pours out his love on us, and often receives no thanks or gratitude, sometimes he is even ignored or insulted. A mother too often does not receive thanks for all the little things she does for her family, or is even taken for granted. But she knows that her treasure is in heaven, and her ‘Father who sees in secret will reward her.’
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Sometimes at a funeral, or a wake service – I say, ‘tell me something about your mother;’ and sometimes what I hear is: ‘Her life wasn’t easy father, when dad was alive, he often belittled her, and we ourselves, too often did not show respect. But it was mom who was the heart of our home, who kept everybody together; she never complained, and touched so many, even the neighbor families.’
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The mother who thinks not of herself or her own needs but of others – this is the heart of a mother who can quietly change the world. And it follows the advice that Jesus gives in the Gospel: ‘No one has greater love than this, than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.’
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The world needs generous mothers; it is my prayer that more young women will dedicate their life to raising a family of many children, creating homes of love and safety, where each person feels that they belong. It is from such homes that come the Abraham Lincolns, the George Washingtons, and the saints.
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The Holy bible tells us that a mother has a unique authority over her children, because she has given them life. (Sirach 3:2-6) If this is true, then we should look not only to our earthly mother, but to Mother Mary in heaven.
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St. Alphonsus says that although Mary in heaven, no longer commands her Son as when he was a child on earth, nevertheless her prayers are always the prayers of a Mother, and consequently she obtains whatever she asks.
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Mary, bless our mothers, and obtain the choicest blessings for them from Jesus.
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[Entrusted to St. Joseph]
Children’s Mass
Good morning young people of St. John Vianney. Today in the first reading, we see that there was a big meeting in Jerusalem to decide some questions for the Church. Present there were the apostles, some presbyters – that is, priests; St. Paul was there, and many other people.
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In the Church, there are many different types of people with their own role, or we might say, with their own vocation. So I thought I would ask the question today: What are you going to be when you grow up? Have you ever thought about it? What do you want to be, what do you want to do for your work?
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When some people think about their future, they say: what is it I want to HAVE when I grow up? This is because they think that HAVING things is going to make them happy. They think that if they get a lot of money, some cars, a boat – or buy a nice house and lots of nice things, then I’ll be happy. After I buy all these things, and then go to work every day and come home every night, will I be happy with that money? Not really, because something else is missing. When a person gets old, and they look back at their life, those things will be seen to be a waste of time, chasing after THINGS.
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Other people are not interested in getting many things, what they want with their life, is to be IMPORTANT. Yes, that will make me happy, being important. I will become a lawyer, or I will become a journalist or become a great basketball player and then people will say, he is very important, look what he does. Then I’ll go home and know that I am important, but will I be happy? When that person gets older and retires, he will realize that no one thinks he is important anymore, and soon he will be forgotten.
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Maybe being popular, with tons of friends who like me, maybe this is the purpose of my life and the way to be happy. Yes, if I dress the right way, and act the right way, and then I will be liked and very popular with many friends. But are these really friends? Do they last a lifetime? Such people do not. When one gets old, one finds who one’s real friends have been, and they are usually not so many.
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So how do I find out what I should be when I grow up, how I should be, what should be my goals? The answer is, we must discover our vocation in life, our calling. The question is not, what do I want to do with my life, but what does GOD want me to do with my life. The Lord calls each person here to become a saint. Saints come in all sizes and shapes, different occupations, some are married some not, some are important, some are not. Some are popular, some are not. But the Lord needs all different kinds of saints.
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I will tell you how to be happy. I will tell you how to find value in life and be very happy with who you have become when you are old. Follow the will of God every moment. Say your prayers. And listen to him. Don’t fill all your time with music and talk, but listen to Jesus.
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The Lord is always speaking: ‘Do this, don’t do that. Follow this way, avoid that. Help this person, stay away from that person. By doing God’s will in the small things of daily life, then we will also find what the central vocation of our life is too.
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Is God calling me to be a dentist, or a mechanic, or a homemaker or a nurse or a teacher? Maybe God wants me to be a priest? Or maybe a religious sister? Am I called by God to be a Catholic mom or a Catholic dad, and raise a good family?
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Instead of doing what we WANT, and instead follow what we ought to do, then we will always be on the right path in our future plans. You are young. You don’t have to decide yet, but it is good to think about it. Some people know early on; I know someone who when he was in 2nd grade, knew that he was to be a priest, and he is today.
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Let us listen to God every day, and do his will; in this way, we will also find out his bigger plan for us, what we are to be, and we will be very happy.
Friends in Christ, today, Jesus says: ‘As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love.’
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What is the best way that we remain in his love? He tells us: ‘If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love.’ Remaining in Jesus’ love is not about cheap talk or claiming that one is a Catholic, it’s about how we live. And if we live our life in conformity with the commandments, the result? Christ says: ‘I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete.
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The way of Christ is the way of joy. Not the joy the world gives; a Christian does not always have emotional joy, and we certainly encounter the cross – but a Christian will always have, deep in his gut, the sense that he is at peace with God.
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This world is passing, it is temporary. The world is desperate to find happiness, but it’s approach does not really yield peace, or joy. Who does not have joy? Those who do not keep the commandments.
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Find the person who steals and lies, a deceiver – he is not really happy. Find the person who is a slave to money and things – they are not happy. Find the person who is caught in sensuality and passion, – he is not happy.
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But if you find the person who was kind to an enemy at school – he smiles as he goes to sleep, because he knows he did well. Find a person who told the truth even if he paid a price for it – his heart is at peace. Find a person who threw the pornography into the garbage or gave up drugs – he is a person who is more happy than before.
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Jesus says: I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete. Thomas Aquinas says: Joy that comes from passions and bodily experiences, are not long lasting compared to the joys of the spirit. Pleasures of this world pass quickly, but the joy of doing God’s will gives the joy and the peace that makes us feel complete.
Friends in Christ, in the gospel today, Our Lord says ‘I am the vine and you are the branches.’ In speaking this way, Jesus is recalling a theme with which the Jewish people would have been very familiar: the vine.
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The Old Testament spoke often of Israel as ‘the vine.’ ‘I had planted thee a noble vine,’ says Jeremiah. ‘You have brought a vine out of Egypt,’ says David. The symbol on the coin made by the Maccabees was the vine. In the temple, above the door, was an enormous carved vine, with grapes the size of a man. The vine therefore, had become a symbol of Israel.
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Christ today, calls himself the vine. ‘I am the vine, you are the branches,’ and in this, he is revealing a mystery of the Church, because we know that the church is the New Israel.
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St. Paul calls the Church the Mystical Body, in which Christ is the head, and we are the other parts of the body, yet we are all one. Well Jesus gives this other image as well, in which he is the main vine, and we are the branches. It is an image that reveals to us, that Christ and his Church are one. That Jesus is really living here, now, in us and with us, not just metaphorically, but really.
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Our Lord will go on to say, ‘I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I in you.’ As Pope St. John Paul II would say, Our Lord shows us the communion of each Christian with Christ, and the communion of all Christians with one another.
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We should pray daily for Holy Mother Church; that she would be faithful to the Truth, and that this Vine of Christ will continue to spread over the whole earth.
