I am the vine, you are the branches

Nothing is more important than keeping in touch with the people we love. The coronavirus pandemic has forced us to find different ways of staying connected, and has made it seem more precious than ever. We need love and friendship to feel fully alive.

Jesus wants to stay connected with us, too. In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples: ‘I am the vine, you are the branches.’ A branch can only grow if it remains attached to the tree. We can only be fully alive and flourishing if we remain connected to Jesus, the vine, and live in his love.

We connect with Jesus through prayer. In the Gospels, we often see Jesus spending time on his own, in a lonely place, praying. Jesus drew strength for his mission from the time that he spent alone with God the Father. He needed to connect with the Father who loved him, and we need to give time to connecting with Jesus.

We connect with Jesus, too, through the life of the Church. In today’s First Reading, we meet Saul, just after his dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus. Saul would become St Paul, the greatest and most fearless preacher of the Gospel. But, in spite of the extraordinary call that he received from God, Paul didn’t try to preach the Gospel on his own. He worked together with the other apostles, and shared in their ministry. Jesus wants us to ‘bear much fruit’ for him. We can only be fruitful if we remain connected, to Christ and to his Church.

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