Last week it was sheep: this week, the vine. Jesus offers us another (agricultural) image to explain the mystery of his offering of himself, and our belonging to him, our being part of him, which comes about through the sacrament of Baptism. This is, as was stated earlier, the period of Mystagogy, when the newly baptised are helped to see what life in Jesus Christ really means. Today this comes out strongly for all of us, with two of the three readings emphasising the moral aspects of life in Christ: it is not simply enough to “belong” to him: our belonging must be shown by the works we do, by the fruits we bear – while remembering of course that we cannot bear fruit except in him.
The Psalm
My vows I will pay before those who fear him. The poor shall eat and shall have their fill. They shall praise the Lord, those who seek him. May their hearts live for ever and ever! All the earth shall remember and return to the Lord, all families of the nations worship before him. They shall worship him, all the mighty of the earth; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust. My soul shall live for him, my children serve him. They shall tell of the Lord to generations yet to come, declare his faithfulness to peoples yet unborn: “These things the Lord has done.”
First Reading: Acts of the Apostles 9:26-31:
Second Reading: 1John 3: 18-24:
Gospel Reading: John 15:1-8
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