Homily: Fifth Sunday of Easter (B)
John 15:1-8
28 April 2024
Fr. Ricky Cañet Montañez
Do you notice how it is very common for our politicians to groom their children to be their successors? It happens in the baranggay level, mayoral, congress, senate and even for the presidency. Do you realize that three of our Presidents were children of former Presidents? These political scions cannot escape being identified or associated to the characteristics and achievements of their parents. When scions are elected into office, they are expected to be as good as or even better than their parent politician. Isn’t that right?
We may not all be politicians’ children, but when people look at us, they readily see our fathers or mothers in us. Such likeness begins when we start to acquire our parents’ values, take on their ways of doing things, or when we consciously emulate their interests, habits, even mannerisms. The similarity becomes even more pronounced when it permeates our way of being and of living. When we have matured into adulthood, the mimicry ends because by then, it has become part of who we are.
This Sunday’s gospel passage highlights the very special relationship that exists between every believer and the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus says, “I am the vine and you are the branches.” (John 15:5) In saying this, Jesus invites every faithful to strive to be intimately connected to Him as the branch is to the vine. This intimacy with Jesus is vital if we are to share in the life that flows from Him. The branches have to remain connected at all times to the vine for it to blossom and bear fruit. He asks us always to remain in Him.
How are we connected to Jesus? Firstly, we are grafted into Jesus, the vine, by our baptism. This is what St. Paul says in Romans 6:4: “…We have been buried with Christ through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life”. Secondly, we secure our connection to Jesus by listening to His word. Jesus’ word “prunes us”, transforming us into persons of faith, perseverant in seeking God’s will for us and courageous in facing life’s challenges. Thirdly, we are joined to Jesus in a special way through the healing grace of the Sacrament of Confession and the spiritual nourishment we receive in the Holy Mass. Lastly, we are connected to Jesus when we strive to live out our faith through acts of love towards others. St. John urges us in the Second Reading, “Let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.” (1 John 3:18)
This connection to Jesus does not make life easy, in fact it entails some difficult implications for us, Christians: If we are joined to Jesus, we cannot look the other way when someone is in need. We can’t withhold forgiveness from people who have hurt us. We extend love towards others even to those whom we think do not deserve it. As Christians, we can either lead others to God or drive them away by the way we witness to our faith in our lives so much so that the Second Vatican Council’s document, Gaudium et Spes (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), suggests that we all share in responsibility for the rise of atheism.
Moreover, sometimes when we are associated with an ugly past, people cannot seem to see us differently. In the First Reading (Acts 9:26-31), the disciples were suspicious of Saul because he had persecuted many Christians before. It was only when Barnabas vouched for him did they believe he had truly been converted. Early this year, I finished watching the K-Drama, Welcome to Samdal-ri. The female lead, Cho Samdal, a famous fashion photographer decides to return to her hometown after she hits rock bottom due to a horrible scandal where she is accused of abuse of power. In reconnecting with her roots — her family and childhood friends — she attempts to find solace and direction to put herself back together again. In the same way, when we find ourselves in a disconnect with Jesus, we simply have to go back to the church, and find direction with the help of our brothers and sisters in the faith.
Let us check ourselves regularly to see if we are still projecting the likeness of Christ. Are we a testimony to the living God or do we conceal the reality of His existence through the choices we make, our actions, and our dealings with others? Let us always try to remain in Jesus because “apart from Him we can do nothing” (John 15:5) but connected to the Lord, we are assured that we can ask what we want of Him, and glorify the Lord by bearing much fruit for the Kingdom.
Art work by Irina Yaresko
Sunday Gospel Reflections 