Acts 9:26-31; Ps. 22:26-28, 30-32; 1 Jn. 3:18-24; Jn. 15:1-8
“Remain in me, as I remain in you.” In Jesus we can do all things and bear fruit for whatever we ask. Jesus reminds us, “because without me we can do nothing”. This bears the question, “how much are we doing to bear fruit for the kingdom of God?” Does it cross our mind or even a concern of ours that God has a purpose for us? We did not come into the world to be our own God as the secular world leads us to believe. It is not all about “Me” it is about “Him”. Jesus did not come into the world to be served but to serve and be one with the Father. This is how we remain in him when we allow him to be one with us. Why would we not desire his oneness in us and in all who we love?
The power of God’s grace is there for us to take up on the road to holiness. Remaining in Jesus is an act of the will to keep his commandments, an act of faith to believe in the name of Jesus Christ, and an act of love for each other in our charity. In Jesus we see the fruit of our every day blessings those we bring to each other when we remain in him. Apart from him only darkness and sin remain with death as the companion.
Spiritual formation calls for pruning the spirit to grow straight towards the “Son”. The first pruning is in baptism for the removal of original sin. It does not end there it is just beginning. In the first reading Barnabas takes charge of Saul and brought him to the apostles because they feared him. In life we don’t get to heaven “figuring it out” by ourselves. Parents take charge of their children to bring them to the waters of baptism, to send them to catechesis and to bring them to Mass. Parents who say let them grow up and “figure it out” if they want baptism or what faith to follow, are not taking charge of the faith of their children as stewards of their flock. There is a reason for children to be called “kids” like goats because they need the pruning of discipline and guidance not just for behavior but for spiritual development.
If we reflect back on our faith, we will recognize a “Barnabas” in our lives who took charge of bringing us to Jesus. Often it is our parents who read us bible stories, shared their faith and taught us to come to church but not all. Unfortunately, there are many stories by adults who grew up with no faith development and yet along the path a “Barnabas” came into their lives and invited them to church or shared their conversion story, or just by the fruit of their faith demonstrated a peace and joy that attracted others to seek that peace. Who was “Barnabas” to you that has you here this day instead of “out there” trying to figure it out on your own?
In my own story, I identify my mother as the “Barnabas” who took charge of me bringing me as an infant to be baptized to receive not only the gift of the Holy Spirit but for Jesus to remain in me as I struggled with my own faith growing up. She taught me to seek him in scripture and made sure I prayed each morning before going to school and each evening kneeling down by my bed before going to sleep. That alone remained with me during my wandering days as a youth and young adult. We should say a prayer of thanksgiving for our “Barnabas”.
Sometimes it is the one who brought us back to give the church an opportunity for hope and direction in our lives. It can happen in a retreat, in a confession or even in the workplace. It can be our spouse, a sponsor for our sacraments, our grandparents, or simply a friend but the miracle of conversion comes through relationship. Saul’s conversion began with Jesus appearance speaking to him. Jesus sent Ananias to open the eyes of Saul in his conversion after being blinded by Jesus appearance. Then Barnabas took charge of him to bring him to the apostles as the visible church of Christ. In Saul’s conversion it was a series of people who took charge to fulfill on step in his journey. We too can look back to how in each step of our faith development it may not have been just one person but a number of people that kept us going in the right direction.
God not only puts others in our path of faith but he is also calling us to be instruments of his love in the faith of others. Who do we claim to have served as an instrument of God in bringing them one step closer to their conversion? Ultimately it is God who does the miracle but by remaining in Jesus we will “bear much fruit”. In the end God will reveal to us the fruit we have produced and it may surprise us…all the lives we impacted for his glory. He will also reveal the fruit we were to produce and did not and what we will bear in our purgatory for in the end justice belongs to God.
God desires us to be difference makers, the one he calls to be the difference. We can be as much of a difference for good and righteous as for evil and injustice. In the end it will be one or the other. Good and righteous does not just happen. We take up our cross daily and prepare ourselves to respond one way or the other but nothing is neutral including the choice to not respond is an act of omission. Better to try and do poorly than to avoid and fail completely. If we say, I don’t want to try and fail then we have already failed by failing to try. God rewards the effort and is in charge of the outcome.
As Jesus remains in us, we are being pruned by our response to our daily struggles, joys, offerings and sacrifices. In his divine providence no day goes without how we have responded to him down to even our thoughts and feelings. Do we let go and let God work through us as we trust in him? Problems don’t go away. How we respond to them is what makes for holiness. The best response begins with prayer and leads us to follow a path guided by the Holy
Spirit. It helps when we also call upon God’s saints, our Blessed Mother Mary and our guardian angel to intercede for us. In fact, this is the year of St. Joseph and recall St. Joseph is the terror of demons so we can make a consecration to him to be at our side as we overcome our trials and tribulations. But nothing will happen with all the heavenly hosts unless we place our trust in God. Here then is the stumbling block.
How are we to learn to trust when our lives have already felt the sting of being hurt, betrayed, rejected, and even abandoned? Jesus lived through all of this and more in his passion and death. In the passion of Jesus, he remains in us to overcome our suffering with us. He is the power to live through anything and everything when he remains in us and we remain in him. In his death he surrenders to God his spirit and gives us his spirit to fear not. In his victory over death, he makes all things new. We can be made new in our faith, hope, and love through the resurrection of Jesus. He lives and remains in us. In the resurrection we learn to trust as we focus on the risen Lord, his power to rise up in the fullness of his divinity and humanity. The light of new hope is Jesus resurrected. This is our Easter time to celebrate Jesus rose from the dead to remain with us.
At the end of the diaconate program there was a celebration with the Bishop and I was given the opportunity to speak on behalf of the candidates. I gave the Bishop a gift. The gift was pruning shears and asked him to be gentle as we move into our call as deacons. Jesus is the gentle shepherd who does his shearing of us that our wool will serve to make great blessings in the lives of others and then as sheep we grow new wool that is even greater graces coming from God.
Psychology teaches that our temperament is inherited at 60% and our character is learned at 40% and together that makes our personality. That 40% that we learn in our character is the pruning we gain in our life experiences to grow straight as we allow God to remain in us. In God we gain the wisdom to see his hand in our lives and take each moment to be the best we were created to be making it a God moment.
Remaining in Jesus is placing our trust in him and this is where the pruning is a true sacrifice. Let Jesus be our voice and the Holy Spirit our heart and the Father’s will our action. That is grace at work.
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