"It was Christ who chose you to go forth."

John 15:9-17

"It was Christ who chose you to go forth."

The vine-branches imagery points to our relationship with Jesus. And one that will bear fruit only in Him. That relationship leads us to charity - one that thinks of the other as oneself. This is the charity that bears good fruit by obedience to God's commandments, listening to His counsel and doing good works from the Holy Spirit's inspirations. "Love one another as I have loved you" is that inspiration that speaks to us in God's Word and the celebration of the Eucharist. As we meditate on what Christ did in His public ministry, we are also to do as we live out the Eucharist in our lives. The Eucharist sends us forth in the name of Christ to bring the spirit of charity in the very secular spheres of life and work.

The concept of love in Christianity is different from how the secular world understands it. In one of his sermons, St. Augustine of Hippo says that since we are brought up in this secular notion of love, we do not usually love others in the way God wills of us. To love the right way, we are called to conquer first the spiritual illnesses (bad habits and vices) within us: pride, despair, and earthly attachments. Spiritual health thus means to refocus and re-center our lives on God and our eternal destiny, so that this purified love may flow also to others. It means that we attend to our our daily concerns in the right way that we may not forget the one thing necessary (cf. Donald Burt's "Augustine's Search for God").

To balance our lives in a fast-paced world filled with the speed of technology is not easy, but with God's help in a context of family, co-workers and friends, we can work at it and succeed.. We only need the courage to begin each day to be faithful, and soon we can pass through from pride to humility, from despair to hope, and from earthly attachments to spiritual concerns. It is possible; prayer and moments of silence helps us be open to the Holy Spirit. Openness to God will help us take stock of where we are and where we are headed: lives lived well for the building of God's kingdom in our midst.

We are branches of the vine...Jesus is the stem from whom we yield good grapes.

John 15:1-8

"For apart from Christ you can do nothing."

Chapter 15 of John's gospel clearly teaches who we are in relation to Christ: He is our Lord and our Life, and we are His followers.  He is the Vine, and we are the branches. A branch can produce fruit abundantly only if it lives connected to the vine. So it is with our Christian life. If we live in Christ, and He in us, we can produce good works, that will make our life or vocation pleasing to both God and man.

The vine-branches imagery presented in John 15:1-8 was also reflected upon by the French missionary, St. Louis-Marie de Montfort in his book "True Devotion to Mary". In True Devotion #68, he writes:

"...the Holy Spirit compares us to branches of the vine of which Jesus is the stem, and from whom we yield good grapes."

This "good grapes" are our "good works". And our good works, according to Montfort, belong to God, who created us for that very purpose. "Jesus is the sole source and must be the sole end for all our good works".

Although our goal in life is to make our life, person and works fruitful and abundant in all that is good and right (for God, the common good, and our own personal good), there will be times in our life when fruitlessness and barrenness seem to dominate. It is a truth and a fact of life. But the counsel in today's gospel will help us overcome those situations. As long as we call on the Lord for His help, set our heart right, and never depart from Him, then in time, He will make all that we worked hard for produce a good harvest. The key is to remain steadfast with the Lord - to have faith in His Word and thank Him always for His blessings in our prayers and in the celebration of the Sacraments.

"There shall be one flock then, one shepherd."

John 10:11-18

"There shall be one flock then, one shepherd."

Chapter 10 of John's gospel, is Jesus' "good Shepherd" discourse. The chapter tells us what a Good Shepherd is through Jesus good example. Jesus uses shepherd imagery that is familiar to His audience as a platform for good leadership. And for Jesus', good leadership, like the Good Shepherd does not leave His flock at the "sight of the wolf". He does not abandon the sheep and leave them to be scattered. Only a hired hand does that. But as the good Shepherd, Jesus gathers His sheep into one fold, and readies Himself to lay down His very life for them. We are the Lord's sheep, and He is always ready to be at our side whenever danger arises.

Probably the best example for our generation of one who imitated the Lord well is Bl. John Paul II. During his long papal vocation, Bl. John Paul II was able to gather into one flock the world's religious leaders of various faith denominations and lead them to pray for peace in Assisi, Italy. He was able to shepherd into one flock those who believe in the universal values of prayer and peace. Bl. John Paul II exemplified well Christ's role as the Good Shepherd, by completing his papal term until the end, despite the difficulties he experienced in his health.

"There shall be one flock then, one shepherd." 

This prophecy in the gospel began to be realized by the many missionary journeys Bl. John Paul did to promote the gospel of peace. He not only called the Church to be one, holy, Catholic and apostolic, but also called others who do not belong to the Catholic flock. The Catholic Church has always been working for Christian unity and interreligious dialogue since the Second Vatican Council. The example of Bl. John Paul and the Lord's prayer for unity (also found in the gospel of John) is an example and a prayer each of us, in his own way, can include in his way of life and work. Not only big things, but even small things count. If each person were to work for unity in their respective states of life and in the secular settings of family and work, then each one can contribute very well to the fruition of our Lord's prayer for "one flock" that prays and works for the cause of peace in the world.