Gospel (Jn 15:1-8)

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples.”

Commentary

Let us begin at the end: “By this my Father is glorified: that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples.” The glory of our eternal God, Almighty and Omniscient, is that we poor creatures bear fruit. It sounds crazy, but God himself said it.

This is so because God is Father. What’s more, all fatherhood comes from Him (cf. Eph 3:15). Let us never forget that God’s fatherhood is not a metaphor that we use to explain his way of acting, resorting to a human word that evokes tenderness and protection. It is exactly the opposite: paternity is a divine word that we have decided to also use to refer to our parents.

Thus we can understand why the glory of the Father is that we bear much fruit. For a father there is no greater desire or pride than seeing his children be fruitful. Seeing them grow, fulfilling their dreams, undertaking challenges, leaving a mark. Fathers and mothers are filled with pride when they speak about their children’s achievements.

Well, this is simply an image of what happens to our all-loving God. Using our poor human language, we can say that the Eternal Father’s chest is filled with joy every time He thinks about us. He is the farmer who strives by every means possible to see his field bear fruit: “What more can be done for my vineyard that I have not done?” (cf. Is 5:4).

But bearing fruit has an unavoidable condition: recognizing that Christ is the vine and being closely united to Him. This requires that our thoughts, our desires, our fears, our entire life passes through his Heart. We need to purify every success and failure in the crucible of his Love, preventing even the slightest hint of vainglory from staining our intention, so that Jesus, the Alpha and Omega, is not only be the end of our actions, but also the beginning.

How can we live like this? The answer is clear: with the help of the Holy Spirit. His mission is to mold in us the image of Christ, who is the Beloved Son in whom the Father rejoices. That is the meaning of our life: that God the Father, when looking at us, sees Jesus. But this requires knowing that “every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” Being a disciple of Christ means sharing in his destiny: embracing the Cross in the humble opportunities that ordinary life offers us.