5th Sunday of Easter year B

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From the beginning of the Gospel of John we get this image of the “Word becoming flesh” in order to bring us to God. We are told that he dwelt among us and through the sacraments of the Church he also dwells within us. So we are called to fully participate in the creative and loving activity of God.  We will bear much fruit if we dwell with God. This then implies that we have a deep relationship and friendship with God. And through this relationship we understand and learn how to live. Jesus says in today’s gospel that he is vine and we are the branches we are not then separate from the vine but dwelling and attached to him who loves us. This means that our God is a personal one who is caught up in our lives and wants to be in relationship with us.
And through this intimate relationship through the word becoming flesh and knowing him we are then called to give this life to others we bear fruit. What a wonderful God we have that he gives us knowledge and works through us we are then instruments of his grace by the way we act and work in the world by our words to others, our gestures and prayers. We then give that life to others and because of that we then receive that life from others too.  
This live giving spirit then flows from the source the vine through the branches and produces fruit that will last.

In order then to be fountains of life that transmits the Holy Spirit we need as it says in the gospel to be pruned.  So we need to look at ourselves and get to know ourselves better. So we look at ourselves our brokenness and our pain and our inner wounds.   Our prejudices and self centredness. Slowly over time healing them this is a struggle for all of us. In my experience I have just sorted one part of my brokenness when another one comes and we have to start again with another part of our lives.


And then there are those times in our lives where we block out the life that comes from the vine. These are usually the times of sickness, failures, death of a loved one and other unexpected events. They can both damage our relationship with God and others.

Through the loving care of God our Father these things are healed. We can walk in the presence of God by telling him our inner hurts by coming to prayer and asking the help of the community we can once again become that life for others.

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