25 April 2027 · Latin Rite
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“I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5
The first reading shows us Saul of Tarsus after his conversion, trying to join the disciples in Jerusalem. It does not go well. “They were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple.” And who could blame them? Only a short time before he had been dragging Christians to prison. Saul has met the risen Lord, but the Church does not yet trust him. Then one man changes everything: “Barnabas took him, brought him to the apostles, and described for them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus.” Barnabas, the “son of encouragement,” takes a risk on a man everyone else feared. Without Barnabas, perhaps there would have been no St Paul as we know him. Soon Saul is preaching boldly in Jerusalem, his life is threatened again, and the believers send him off to Tarsus to keep him safe. Luke ends with a beautiful summary: “the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was built up. Living in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.”
The Psalm is the second half of Psalm 22, the psalm Jesus prayed on the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” On Palm Sunday of the Passion we sang from its first half, the cry of anguish. In the Easter season the Church sings its second half, the song of thanksgiving of one who has been rescued: “From you comes my praise in the great congregation.” “The poor shall eat and be satisfied.” “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord.” The one who was forsaken now praises God in the assembly, and his deliverance will be told “to a people yet unborn.” That is the Resurrection, and that is the Church, the great congregation where the risen Christ praises the Father with us.
The second reading, from the First Letter of John, is short and very practical: “Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” Christian love is not a feeling or a speech; it is shown in deeds. Then John speaks tenderly to troubled consciences: “whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.” When we feel unworthy, our feelings do not have the last word; God does. And he sums up the whole of Christian life in one commandment with two parts: “that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another.” Faith and love are not two separate things; they are one life. “All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.”
The Gospel gives us one of the richest images of the whole Bible. At the Last Supper Jesus says: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower.” In the Old Testament Israel was God's vine, planted with love and tended with care (Isaiah 5; Psalm 80). Now Jesus says that he himself is the true vine, and we are the branches. The life of the branch is the life of the vine; cut off, it withers. “Abide in me as I abide in you.” The word “abide” appears again and again: to stay, to remain, to make one's home. And the Father prunes: “Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.” Pruning hurts, but it is not punishment; it is the vinegrower's care, so that the branch may bear more. “Apart from me you can do nothing.” We cannot love as 1 John asks by our own effort; we can only love if the life of Christ flows in us. The Barnabas of the first reading is such a branch: his encouragement of Paul was the fruit of Christ's own life in him. Today would ordinarily be the feast of St Mark the Evangelist, the same John Mark who was Barnabas's cousin. This year the Sunday takes its place, but we may thank God for him, who wrote the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, so that it could bear fruit in every age.
Theme: “I am the vine, you are the branches.”
Barnabas who welcomed Saul, love in truth and action, abiding in Christ, and the Father's pruning.
“You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Deuteronomy 10:19
“But Barnabas took him, brought him to the apostles, and described for them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus.” Acts 9:27
Apply: This week, stand beside one person whom others distrust or avoid.
“For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” Hosea 6:6
“Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” 1 John 3:18
Apply: Turn one good intention you have been talking about into a deed before next Sunday.
“Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.” Isaiah 5:1
“I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5
Apply: Choose a daily way of abiding: a visit to the Blessed Sacrament, the Rosary or ten minutes with the Gospel, and keep it all week.
“You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.” Psalm 80:8
“He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.” John 15:2
Apply: Offer to the Father one painful situation in your life, asking him to make it fruitful.
Christ is the true vine; joined to him by faith, the word and the Eucharist, we live with his life.
The fruit of abiding in him is love in truth and action, like the welcome Barnabas gave to Paul.
Take-home resolution: Abide with Jesus every day this week, and let one act of love be its fruit.
Dear friends, if you cut a branch from a mango tree, for a day or two it stays green. It looks alive. But it has no future. In a few days its leaves are dry. Jesus says today: I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:5).
Look at the first reading. Saul, the former persecutor, comes to Jerusalem, but everyone is afraid of him. Nobody trusts him. Then Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles (Acts 9:27). Barnabas trusted when others feared. He gave Paul a place in the Church.
Where did Barnabas get that courage and that generosity? From the Vine. He was a branch joined to Christ, and the fruit of Christ's life in him was encouragement. Is there someone in our parish, perhaps someone with a bad past, a broken family, a different background, who needs a Barnabas? Will you be that person?
St John tells us in the second reading: little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action (1 John 3:18). Our love must be seen. And if our hearts accuse us, if we feel we are not good enough, John says: God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Do not let guilt cut you off from the Vine; bring it to him in confession.
Jesus also speaks of pruning. The Father prunes every fruitful branch to make it bear more fruit. Sometimes life cuts us: illness, loss, failure. It hurts. But in the Father's hands, pruning is not punishment; it is love preparing a greater harvest.
How do we abide in Christ? In prayer every day. In the word of God. Above all in the Eucharist: whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. Today is also the day we would have kept the feast of St Mark, who wrote the Gospel. Let us thank God for him, and for the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose month begins this week. Let us stay joined to the Vine, and bear much fruit. Alleluia. Amen.
Children, a branch on a plant gets its food from the plant. If you break it off, it dries up. Jesus says: I am the vine, you are the branches!
When we pray, go to Mass and love others, we stay joined to Jesus, and we grow good fruit like kindness and joy. Let us say: Jesus, keep me close to you!
Lord Jesus Christ, true vine, your Father is the vinegrower and we are the branches. Keep us abiding in you, for apart from you we can do nothing. Nourish us with your word and with your Body and Blood, so that your life may flow in us and bear fruit that lasts. When the Father prunes us, give us trust in his loving hands. Make us like Barnabas, quick to welcome and to encourage; teach us to love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action; and when our hearts condemn us, remind us that God is greater than our hearts. With St Mark, who wrote your Gospel, and with the Blessed Virgin Mary, the fruitful branch who bore you, we praise you in the assembly of your people, now and for ever. Alleluia. Amen.