A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 4, n. 25)
5th Sunday of Easter, Year B – May 14, 2006
“Branches of the True Vine”
BIBLE READINGS
Acts 9:26-31 // I Jn 3:18-24 // Jn 15:1-8
N.B. This new series of BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD: A LECTIO DIVINA APPROACH TO THE SUNDAY LITURGY presents a biblico-liturgical study of the First Reading of each Sunday Mass to serve as background for a better understanding of the Gospel proclaimed in the liturgy. For a biblico-liturgical study of the Gospel for each Sunday, please go to the PDDM Web Archives: WWW.PDDM.US.
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS
Last December we had some wonderful guests for dinner here in our convent in Monrovia: Fr. Matthew and his best friend, Rev. Paul who will be ordained a priest this May, together with Fr. James, a priest from England who ministers in a parish in Orange County. The inspiring vocation story of Fr. Matthew Wayne Munoz, the grandson of the famous actor, John Wayne, has been featured in the magazine, ST. ANTHONY MESSENGER. We were delighted to meet these wonderful and dedicated Church pastors and ministers and really enjoyed their company. After dinner, Fr. James bid us goodbye, but Fr. Matthew and Rev. Paul tarried. When they were about to go, Fr. Matthew suggested that we pray one decade of the Rosary in the chapel. It was a very good idea and so off we went to the chapel. After praying a decade of the Rosary, we sang a Christmas song with joy and devotion. Rev. Paul followed it with a very inspiring prayer. Soon we were praying and singing spontaneously in various languages. Fr. Matthew sang beautifully an evocative song in Hebrew. What was supposed to be a very brief moment of prayer was transformed into a true celebration of adoration and prayer. Time did not seem to matter as we remained in intimate communion with the Lord Jesus like “branches of the fruitful vine”. How we relished the beauty of abiding in him - the living and true vine!
Today’s First Reading (Acts 9:26-31) on the difficult beginnings of the convert Saul’s apostolate (v. 26-30) and on the gradual expansion of the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria (v. 31) illustrates what it means to “remain in the vine” and to be “fruitful branches of the vine”. Paul, the mystic and apostle to the Gentiles, who suffered terrible trials and persecutions on account of his faith, is a powerful example of a disciple who remains deeply united with Jesus Christ, the living vine, and who bears abundant fruit. The vibrant community of disciples in Judea, Galilee and Samaria, who were walking in the fear of the Lord and being consoled by the Holy Spirit is another illustration of the fruitfulness of branches attached to the true vine.
One of the most dramatic conversions in history is that of Saul of Tarsus who would later be known by his apostolic name, “Paul”. When Paul went to Jerusalem, the Christian disciples realistically feared him at first, not believing he was really one of them. The authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 3, comment: “God’s initiatives are disconcerting. When Paul tried to contact the community of disciples and join it, he ran into mistrust and suspicion. They could not believe that this man who was famous for his zeal, his rage, even his frenzy (Gal 1:13-14), who pursued and persecuted the community even to foreign cities (Acts 26:11) had undergone conversion. Far from welcoming him with open arms, they closed their doors to him, for they were all afraid of him. The reaction is completely understandable. That it was mistaken in this case does not cast doubt on the legitimacy and even the necessity of testing new converts to be sure of the seriousness of their conversion and the purity of their intention when they demand entrance into the community.”
Paul, however, would have a sponsor and guarantor in the person of Barnabas, described by evangelist Luke as “a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith” (Acts 11:24). Barnabas vouched for Paul. He introduced him to the apostles and explained how the Lord had appeared to Paul, spoken to him on his journey, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. The testimony of Barnabas concerning the authenticity of Paul’s conversion was accepted and the latter was able to move freely among the Christian disciples in Jerusalem and preach fearlessly in the name of the Lord.
The Christian convert Paul also experienced violent hostility from his former colleagues, the Hellenists – Greek-speaking Jews whose cause Paul had but lately espoused. The Hellenists tried to kill Paul, but his brothers in the faith helped him to escape to Tarsus. The life of Paul and the trials he endured proved that his attachment to the true vine Jesus is sincere, total, faithful and strong. The fruitfulness that resulted from Paul’s apostolic preaching and witnessing to the nations reinforces the truth of Jesus’ declaration: “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned” (Jn 15:5-6).
The authenticity and fruitfulness of the disciples abiding in the vine can be verified in the progressive building up of the Church in the years after the resurrection of Christ. The liturgical scholar Adrian Nocent remarks: “The Church is gradually expanding as the Spirit brings in new members. The vine is becoming larger as new branches are grafted on through faith in the risen Christ.” Indeed, in these Easter days of grace and blessings, the faithful and abiding branches of the living vine Jesus Christ receive new sap of vitality and growth.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Jn 15:1-8
By Pauline Mary Martell
(Member: Holy Family Institute, Fresno, CA – U.S.A.)
Jesus is the image of the true vine and He extends to us the invitation in Him in order to bear the fruit of love.
The Lord bequeaths to his disciples new presence. A new way of being. Jesus initiates his new story with each one of us called “indwelling”. He is no longer with us, because he is going back to the Father, yet he remains within us. His Being in my being. This is “the pilgrim of an inward Odyssey.” The voyage and the end are all. “The road on which we enter is a royal road which leads to heaven.” Jesus passes on to His disciples the secret of being able to continue to live in an intimate relationship with Him, that is, by remaining in Him.
This remaining brings forth a call to mission, the gift of life for the Father and for the neighbor, our sisters and brothers as gift and as service. When He says “I am” He is also saying “You are” to each one of us, to each son and daughter who is born into this world. “I am” is in the present. It is the Lord who gives meaning to my life, who makes of my life a relationship, a communion, and identification. “I am the vine, but you too are in me.” You have called me to be fruitful … to be fruit of your love for humankind, to be compassionate.
This union is to be attained, first by cooperation in that Life which bears us up, in which we are immersed. We must be conscious of this “great Life of the All”, merge ourselves in it, if we would find our way back whence we came. We are a “child of the infinite”. The mystic knows his task to be the attainment of Being, Eternal Life, union with the One, the “return to the Father’s heart”: for the Parable of the Prodigal Son is to him the history of the universe.
“In the Last Supper God gives himself with all he is as food for his dear friends.” With this eating, this total union, the breakthrough is achieved once again. We reenter God still another time.
“The soul enters into God more than any food enters into us; in fact, it changes the soul into God … My soul is more closely united with God than food with my body.”
The banquet is a celebration of divinity in which transformation takes place. God with people, people with God. God into food, food into God. God into people, people into God. Many are called to this great sacrament of eating. How many will respond to this invitation? How many are hungry enough to eat Compassion? And how many would dare to become what they eat?
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
A. Do we try to live a life of intimate union with Christ and with apostolic fruitfulness in response to his declaration: “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in and I in him will bear much fruit” (Jn 15:5)?
B. What are our experiences of personal intimacy with the Lord? What are our experiences of rupture and difficulties in personal intimacy and self-giving? What are the trials and hardships we experience in being branches of the true vine? What are our apostolic endeavors to be a fruitful branch in the vine?
C. Do we look to Paul the Apostle, a great mystic, as a model of abiding in the vine and of apostolic fruitfulness? Do we cultivate a true devotion to St. Paul? Are our hearts filled with thanksgiving for the consolation of the Holy Spirit and for the vivifying sap of divine grace that enable the Church to grow and be fruitful?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
(Cf. Commission Francophone Cistercinne, Prieres au fil des heures, Vivante liturgie 99, Paris: Publications de Saint-Andre-Centurion, 1982, 101)
Assembly: In these Easter days,
Lord God,
your vine receives new sap.
Hold the branches to the vine:
thus will charity make us live
one for another
in the one who died and rose for us,
Jesus, the Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.
“I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.” (Jn 15:5).
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
A. Pray that Christian disciples may truly remain in the vine, our Risen Lord Jesus Christ even in the midst of difficulties, trials and contradictions. Nourish and cultivate a spirit of prayer and contemplation that will lead to deeper union with God. Offer your time, talent, resources and energy to help bring about a renewed apostolic fruitfulness in the Church. Study prayerfully the life of St. Paul and his works.
B. ACTION PLAN: To help us abide in the living vine and to be apostolically fruitful, make an effort to spend an hour in Eucharistic Adoration. Visit the PDDM WEB site (www.pddm.us) for the EUCHARISTIC ADORATION THROUGH THE LITURGICAL YEAR (Vol. 2, n. 25): A Weekly Pastoral Tool.
Prepared by Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang PDDM
PIAE DISCIPULAE DIVINI MAGISTRI
SISTER DISCIPLES OF THE DIVINE MASTER
60 Sunset Ave., Staten Island, NY 10314
Tel. (718) 494-8597 // (718) 761-2323
Website: WWW.PDDM.US