31 March 2027 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Latin Rite · Syro-Malankara Rite · മലയാളം
“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
“I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my whole being shall exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” In Easter week these words were sung over the newly baptised, who had just put on white garments. Every Christian has been clothed by God: not with a robe we earned, but with Christ himself. “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Galatians 3:27). Then Isaiah turns to Zion, the forsaken city, and speaks of a wedding. “You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate; but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the LORD delights in you.” “For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your builder marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.” This is the language of the Easter Church. Christ the Bridegroom has given his life for his bride, the Church, and has risen to rejoice over her. The East Syriac liturgy loves this image: the Church is the bride betrothed to Christ, and the Holy Qurbana is the wedding feast. On Easter, God gives his people a new name: not Forsaken but My Delight. Every baptised person, however unworthy he feels, can hear the Risen Lord say to him: you are my delight.
In Acts, Peter and John have been arrested for healing a lame man in the name of Jesus and for preaching the Resurrection. They are threatened and released. They go back to their friends, and the whole community does not panic or complain; it prays. “When they heard it, they raised their voices together to God and said, ‘Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and everything in them’.” They read their situation in the light of Psalm 2: the rulers of the earth gathered against the Lord and his Anointed. And they do not ask for the threats to end, or for revenge. They ask for courage: “And now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” The answer comes at once: “When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.” Paul, writing from prison, shows the fruit of that Spirit in the life of the community: “I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” And he names the sevenfold unity of the Church: “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.” The persecuted Church is strong when she prays together and when she stays one.
The Gospel is the parable of the vine, spoken at the Last Supper over the cup of wine. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.” The key word is ‘abide’, repeated again and again. “Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.” “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.” The branch does not produce fruit by effort but by staying connected; the sap of the vine does the work. The Risen Christ is not only an example to imitate but a life to share. We abide in him through Baptism, by which we are grafted into the vine; through the Holy Qurbana, in which he says, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them” (John 6:56); through his word remaining in us; and through keeping his commandments. “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.” The pruning is not punishment but care: the Father cuts back what is useless so that we may bear more fruit. Many a Christian has found that a time of loss or suffering became a time of greater fruitfulness. The vine of Kerala's ancient Christian community has been pruned many times in its long history, and it still bears fruit in vocations, in missionaries, in families of faith across the world, because it abides in the vine.
Theme: “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.”
The bride clothed with salvation, the Church praying for boldness, the unity of the Spirit, and the true vine.
“For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your builder marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.” Isaiah 62:5
“As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” Galatians 3:27
Apply: Thank God today for your Baptism, and believe that he delights in you.
“Why do the nations conspire, and the peoples plot in vain?” Psalm 2:1
“When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.” Acts 4:31
Apply: Speak a word of faith this week where you would usually keep silent.
“How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!” Psalm 133:1
“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.” Ephesians 4:4–6
Apply: Bear patiently with one difficult person this week.
“You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.” Psalm 80:8
“As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.” John 15:9
Apply: Spend ten minutes before the Blessed Sacrament this week, simply abiding.
The Risen Christ is the Bridegroom who delights in us and the vine who gives us life.
Abide in him, pray for boldness, keep the unity of the Spirit, and you will bear much fruit.
Take-home resolution: This week, abide ten minutes daily with Christ, speak one word of faith with courage, and bear lovingly with one difficult person.
Dear friends, Isaiah sings: “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD… for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation.” The newly baptised wore white this week. All of us were clothed with Christ in Baptism. And God speaks to his people as a bridegroom: “You shall no more be termed Forsaken… but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her.” Each of us can hear the Risen Lord say: you are my delight.
In Acts, Peter and John are threatened for preaching Jesus. The community gathers and prays. They do not ask God to remove the threats; they ask for boldness: “grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness.” And the place is shaken, and they are filled with the Holy Spirit.
Paul writes from prison: lead a life worthy of your calling, “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love.” There is one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. A Church that prays together and stays one cannot be defeated.
And Jesus says: “I am the vine, you are the branches… apart from me you can do nothing.” A branch does not bear fruit by trying harder, but by staying attached. We stay attached to him through prayer, through his word, through keeping his commandments, and above all through the Holy Qurbana: “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.”
Sometimes the Father prunes us. It hurts. But he cuts only to make us bear more fruit. Many of us can look back and see that a hard time was a fruitful time.
This week, let us abide. Ten minutes before the Blessed Sacrament, or ten minutes with the Gospel. Let us ask for boldness to speak of Jesus, and bear patiently with one difficult person. Apart from him we can do nothing; with him we bear much fruit. Alleluia! Amen.
Children, Jesus said: ‘I am the vine, you are the branches.’ A branch stays green and grows fruit only when it is joined to the plant.
We stay joined to Jesus when we pray, go to Holy Qurbana and love others. Let us stay close to Jesus every day!
Lord Jesus Christ, true vine, the Father has grafted us into you through Baptism and feeds us with your Body and Blood. Let us abide in you as you abide in us, and let your word remain in us. Prune from us what is useless, so that we may bear much fruit for the glory of the Father. Clothe us with the garments of salvation, keep your Church one in the bond of peace, and give us boldness to speak your word, as you gave it to the apostles when the house was shaken. Glory to you, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for ever. Amen. Alleluia!
Today the Church hears two great images of union. Isaiah speaks of the Lord rejoicing over Zion as a bridegroom over his bride, and John gives us the vine and its branches. In between, Acts shows the threatened community at prayer until the place shakes, and the epistle calls believers to “one Lord, one faith, one baptism”. The risen life means being joined to someone. The key words are new name, abide and fruit.
Setting.
The voice of 61:10 rejoices, dressed like a bride or a bridegroom; many readers hear in it the voice of Zion herself. Chapter 62 then has the prophet or God refusing to stay silent until her salvation shines. A people who heard the names “Forsaken” and “Desolate” from all around now receive a new name. It is a promise to Jerusalem, and the Church hears in it also her own calling.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,” (61:10)
Salvation is something God puts on us, as Paul tells the baptized that they “have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Galatians 3:27). The newly baptized wore white this week.
“and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give.” (62:2)
In the Bible a new name means a new vocation, as with Abraham and Peter.
“You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate; but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married;” (62:4)
“For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your builder marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.” (62:5)
A note on the text: the traditional Hebrew vowels read “your sons shall marry you”. The NRSV reads “your builder”, changing only the vowels, and the POC also follows this sense. The line ends with a God who rejoices. God is not merely patient with his people; he delights in them.
How the Church reads it.
The covenant of God with Israel as a marriage prepared the way for the new covenant (CCC 1612). Revelation sees the new Jerusalem “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation 21:2), and the Church calls herself the bride of Christ (CCC 796). She reads these promises with gratitude, knowing that they were first given to Zion, whom God has not forsaken.
Setting.
Jesus speaks at the Last Supper, as in the chapter before. Israel knew the vine as a picture of herself: the song of the vineyard in Isaiah 5, and Psalm 80. Jesus says, “I am the true vine”. He takes that image onto himself, as the one in whom Israel's calling is fulfilled and in whom all may be joined to God. This does not mean that Israel has been cast aside; Paul says that “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29).
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.” (15:2)
The healthy branch is the one that gets cut. Our hard seasons are not always punishment; a vine-grower cuts where he hopes for fruit.
“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.” (15:5)
“Nothing” means nothing that counts toward eternal life. This is not a word against our effort; by his grace our effort becomes true fruit.
“As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.” (15:9)
The sap of the vine is the love between the Father and the Son. To keep his commandments (v. 10) is the way we stay in it.
How the Church reads it.
St Augustine comments that a branch has one of two places, the vine or the fire (in substance). The Catechism says that here Jesus speaks of a still more intimate communion between himself and those who follow him (CCC 787). Christian readers have long seen the vine and the cup together: “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them” (John 6:56). We come to the Holy Qurbana in order to stay in him.
Does v. 6 mean that God throws people into hell?
It is a real warning: to refuse him for good is a real and terrible possibility. But God predestines no one to hell (CCC 1037). A branch that is still alive in this world can come back through repentance; the warning is given so that we will abide.