Fifth Sunday of Easter (Year B)
Acts of the Apostles 9:26-31,
Psalm 21, 1 John 3:18-24, John 15:1-8
There is no such thing as a solitary Christian. Every Christian is linked to Christ and to all other Christians. This is clear from the words of Jesus: ‘I am the vine, you are the branches.’ Alas, often we ignore and hurt others and live only for ourselves.
Notes on the Readings
The First Reading
This tells us about some of the trials Paul endured after his conversion.
The Responsorial Psalm
The Psalmist calls the People of God to praise Him in the great assembly.
The Second Reading
Here John is reflecting on Christ’s commandment of love.
The Gospel
Jesus uses the image of a vine and its branches to illustrate how close are the ties that bind him to his disciples.
Reflection
This Sunday’s passage from the First Letter of Saint John is the most beautiful hymn to love as the basis for the whole of the Christian life. It prepares us for the coming of the Holy Spirit by reminding us that when God's Spirit indwells us, love takes over our lives and transforms us. Provided we yield to the Spirit's power, love will out, and will be a `real and active' force in our lives, not `just words or mere talk'.
What could be simpler? So why is it so difficult to live this truth? Why is it so hard to love as we should? There is no simple answer to this question which goes to the heart of our human condition. The complexities of this condition and the reasons why we so easily recur to sin, fail to love and do the good we so dearly and genuinely want to do even at the very point of acting, is beyond our comprehension.
In his book, The Four Loves, C. S. Lewis recommends a simple practical strategy to encourage love to grow where no love is felt or where hostility and animosity are encountered in another. He advocates quite simply that we act as if we love the other, that all our actions towards them should be loving and self-sacrificing. In this way, over time, we will genuinely find that a real love for them grows in our heart. Our love may also induce a more loving response in them: `love to the loveless shown that they might lovely be'. Self-sacrifice like this promotes the growth of love because it participates in a small but genuine way in the self-sacrifice of Christ on the cross. It is a pruning of the vine that promotes the growth of abundant good fruit.