Christ: best
connection for bearing good fruits
1st
reading: Acts 9:26-31
2nd reading
1Jn 3:18-24
Gospel: Jn 15:1-8
Dearest friends in Christ, for many Sundays, the
Church has been urging every Christian to bear witness to the risen Christ in
our families and in the society. In our homilies, we have been saying that the
best way to bear witness to Christ is by living the life of charity, of love,
peace, truth, kindness, holiness and of mercy. In actual fact, love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, humility, goodness and self-control are fruits for the
edification our families and our society. When we live our lives according to
these fruits, our families and society will be transformed into a beautiful
paradise. But then, where do these fruits come from? How can they be nurtured?
In the readings of today, the church showed us the
origin of these fruits and how they can be nurtured by us. Their source is
Jesus, and they can only be nurtured when we abide in him, when we live our
lives in communion with Him. Could this explain why many people, families and
communities enjoy peace, love, joy, patience, kindness, humility, goodness,
self-control, and mercy, while some others are constantly soaked in
disagreement, quarrels, hatred, wickedness, envy, greed, pretence, and anger?
In the gospel of today, Jesus was about to depart
from his disciples. His presence in their midst has helped them to enjoy a life
of tranquillity, peace, unity, harmony, love and other good fruits. So, as he
was about to leave them, the challenge they faced was how to sustain the good
lifestyle and teachings they have learnt from him. As an answer to their
worries, Jesus, used the image of the vine tree to teach them how they can
sustain the wonderful fruits he has planted in them, even in his physical absence.
The image of the vine tree is well known to each of us. As we all know, every
branch of the vine tree is connected to the stem for its life and productivity.
From the stem, they connect to the roots where water and other nutrients come
from. If the branch of the vine tree is cut off from the vine tree, it will
lack basic nutrients and die. That means, it will stop bearing any fruit.
In this same way, Jesus is the vine tree, and
we are the branches. We are connected to him for our life and productivity, and
for graces and strength to produce good fruits. If we remain connected to Him,
we will bear good fruits, but if we disconnect ourselves from him, our lives
will start bearing bad fruits and, consequently, die.
Therefore, dear friends, only the families and communities
that are connected to Jesus and his teachings can bear fruits of love, peace, and
unity. It is only the life that is connected to Jesus that can reflect the
fruits of love, kindness, mercy, humility, goodness and self-control. When
families and communities are disconnected from Christ, people’s relationship
with one another will be tainted by quarrels, hatred, wickedness, lack of
trust, crisis, injustice and oppression of the poor and the weak. When
individual lives are disconnected from Christ and his teachings, envy, anger,
hatred, lust, arrogance, thirst for evil, pretence and frustration will set in.
Many people in our world have lost this connection to Jesus, and that is why there
are frustrations everywhere. Many families and communities have also lost this
connection to Jesus and his teachings, that is why things are going from bad to
worse everyday. Because of the loss of this connection to Jesus and his
teachings, our world has gradually turned into a theatre of politics without
principles, wealth without work, commerce without morality, pleasure without
conscience, education without character, science without humanity, and worship
without sacrifice.
In today’s second reading, John
explains that it is only when we remain united to Christ by putting our Faith
in him and drawing our spiritual strength from him, will we be able to obey God’s
commandments, especially the commandment of love, loving one another as Jesus
commanded us.
The first reading told us what became of the
life of Saul after he connected himself to Christ. Before he met Jesus, the life
of Saul was that of killing and persecuting Christians. But when he met Jesus,
and became part of the branches of Jesus, his life began to bear the fruits of
love and testimony for the risen Christ.
Believe me, dearest friends, it is very
difficult to live a life that is full of joy, happiness, peace, love, patience,
kindness, humility, goodness and self-control without the presence of Christ
and/or his teachings, that is to say, without this connection to Christ. It absolutely
difficult to conquer envy, anger, hatred, lust, arrogance, thirst for evil,
pretence and frustration, unnecessary disagreement and quarrels without the
grace of Christ and the guidance or inspiration of his teachings. It is this
way because Christ is the animator of good fruits; He is the source of goodness
and his teachings are wonderful guides for good living. Therefore, dear
friends, run away from those friends who promise you fulness of life outside
Christ and his teachings. These friends are everywhere around us, but their job
is only to cut you off from the fountain of life.
How do people lose their connection to Jesus? It
is through sin; when we grow used to sin, we lose connection to Christ. This
connection is also lost through living a lifestyle that contradicts the truth
of the gospel, through living a prayerless life and a life without the
sacraments. Prayer and the sacraments connect us to Jesus.
Dear friends, we can connect ourselves back to
Christ by pruning our lives of those things we do which contradict the gospel
and the spirit of Christ. We need to cut off from ourselves every addiction to
sin. We also need to re-link our lives to Christ through living a life of
prayer, participating actively at mass and in the works of charity in our
communities.
Christ says: ‘he who abides in me and I in him,
he will bear much fruits, for cut off from me you can do nothing.’ So, if you
want your life to bear good fruits, you have to abide in Christ, and if you
want to abide in Christ, you have to renounce sin, say ‘no’ to choices that
contradict the Christian life, take your prayer life and your life of charity
seriously and then, make the sacraments of reconciliation and communion you
companion.
Fr. Isaac Chinemerem Chima
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