5th Sunday of Easter B - 28th April 2024  

I’m not sure how many of us have tried to grow vines but I’m sure all, or nearly all, of us will have grown something. I’ve not got green fingers so I used to keep most of my plants on the kitchen windowsill to remind me to water them! 

 

In today’s Gospel Jesus tells us that He is the vine and the Father is the vinedresser. The purpose of a vine is to bear fruit – fruit that is for others, not just fruit that falls to the ground and dies. We are made to bear fruit in plenty, to bear much fruit as we are told twice within a couple of sentences. We have to ask ourselves – each one of us – am I bearing fruit? I can only do this if I am close to, connected to, part of the vine. I have to allow myself to be fed/ nourished by the Word and by the Eucharist, which is Jesus. I have to do what I can to remain close to Him – by my thoughts, words and deeds. I have to be nourished by all that is good. I have to rid myself – with God’s help - of things, habits and even people which prevent this. 

 

God cuts and prunes, tends and cares for the vine and each individual branch. Our chance of growing depends on our not just being close to Jesus but being in Him, making our home in Him. We cannot be ourselves, the person that God always meant us to be, if we are not part of Him – ‘cut off from Me you can do nothing’. 

 

To bring all this together in one word, I think, is relationship. We bear fruit by our relationships with others – how we are with people, especially God. Do they feel better/ happier by being with us. Are we better persons when we are with them? How important are they in our lives? In recent years, more than ever, we came to realise our need to be with people. We found it hard not being able to be near loved ones especially. We realised how much we missed the physical presence of people, even when we could hear or even see them thanks to technology. Perhaps also, in times of quiet and reflection we came to see and understand how important God is in our lives. How has this manifested itself since those times? Have we gone back to how we were before the pandemic? How are we going to act on all this in the future? That and this week’s Gospel certainly give us something to reflect on.