Wednesday of the 5th Week of Eastertide
Acts 15:1-6 | Psalm 121(122):1-5 | John 15:1-8
There’s a whole lot of cutting going on in today’s scripture, though anyone who’s expecting rapier wit in today’s reflection will be sorely disappointed.
Unless you have yourselves circumcised in the tradition of Moses you cannot be saved. (Acts 15:1)
The Jews cut themselves as an enduring sign of God’s Covenant with Abraham, but we Catholics endure a different sort of cutting:
I am the true vine,
and my Father is the vinedresser.
Every branch in me that bears no fruit
he cuts away,
and every branch that does bear fruit
he prunes to make it bear even more. (John 15:1-2)
Even as “fruitful” children of God, we still need to be “pruned” regularly to get rid of dead or overgrown stems, those that suck nutrients away from the task of bearing fruit.
So we are called to partake of the Sacrament of Reconciliation regularly, to make us reflect on aspects of our lives that draw us away from God and from others.
So we are called to reflect on daily scripture, and pray fervently and often, so as to give us the inspiration and moral strength to discard all things that run counter to our call from God.
All the temptations, all the distractions, all our sins; these must be pruned from our lives, so that our central focus remains on sharing the life-giving love of God with our neighbors, and thereby help them to draw closer to the Almighty.
With the pruning shears of confession and absolution, and the guidebook that is the Holy Bible, let us be trim and slim, and thus be fruitful and multiply in faith.
Amen.