“I am the vine, you are the branches.”

 

Homily Cycle B 5/02/2021

Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/050221.cfm

 

In John’s Gospel Jesus announces, “I am the vine, you are the branches.”

That is a beautiful, simple, and yet majestic way to teach us to be connected to God most.  In fact, we are connected to the Creator of all that is, we are connected to the Creator of the Universe.

 

We live in the Milky Way Galaxy; scientist tell us that it is probably between 100,000 and 150,000 light years across.  And they tell us that the observable Universe is much larger, probably 93 billion light years in diameter.

 

 

A light year is the astronomical equivalent to the distance that light travels in one Earth year, nearly 6 trillion miles.  Ponder the magnitude of our Galaxy [100 billion stars], our Universe [100 billion galaxies] and the possibility that there may be other Universes.

 

 

 

 

 

Jesus gave us His Body and Blood in the Eucharist, His Real Presence to nourish our souls, to feed us spiritually.  As you know this year in our Diocese, we are celebrating The Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist [Divine Mercy Sunday, 4/11/2021 through the Solemnity of Corpus Christi 6/19/2022].  

 

 

In the 1^st reading Paul boldly proclaims Jesus as Messiah.  And in the 2^nd reading we are reminded to “… love … in deed and truth.”  If we cling to the vine, that is Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit will mold us and guide us.  Jesus tells us “Remain in me, as I remain in you.”

 

Gardening is hard and tedious work; pruning is painstakingly difficult work.  In a small town outside of Dublin, Timothy O’Reilly found an abandoned plot of land.

He removed all the junk that had been thrown there and spread good soil.

He, then planted flowers and faithfully water and cultivated his garden.  One day when O’Reilly was tending his garden Fr. McBride walked by and said, Timothy what a beautiful garden God and you have created.  O’Reilly quipped, Father you should have seen it when God had it on His own

Jesus offers us spiritual nourishment in His Word & His Sacraments, especially in The Eucharist.  The famous Catholic writer, Flannery O’Connor was invited to a posh New York City party.  In the course of the evening someone “… said … they thought of it [The Eucharist] as a symbol and a pretty good one.   O’Connor responded, … ‘Well, if it’s a symbol, to hell with it.’   [She said] it is the center of existence for me; all the rest of life is expendable.”  [found in a letter she wrote in December of 1955]

In the CCC there are 88 full paragraphs dealing specifically with The Eucharist, plus many other references to the Eucharist in the Catechism.  Jesus is present to us in many ways, but only in the Holy Eucharist is He uniquely and substantially present — Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.   This is The Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.  [CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, 1373-1374]

The Jesuit philosopher Fr. John Kavanaugh [died in 2012], “What could be more personal, more intense, than to say, ‘You are my food and drink, you are my own very flesh and blood’?”   “… our sacramental Eucharist, our Holy Communion, is a most radical, direct, & intense expression of the conviction that Christ is our personal savior.”  [St. Louis University Sunday Website, May 2, 2021]

Jesus said, “This is my Body, this is my Blood”, the apostles believed His Word and so do I.

What do you believe?

May God Be Praised!

 

St. Joseph, pray for us.

Saint Andre Bessette intercede for us.