May 6, 2015 Wednesday: 5th Week in Ordinary Time
May 6, 2015 Wednesday: 5th Week in Ordinary Time
The Vine and the Branches
When she was younger, my mother loved to grow and tend roses. She spent early mornings either watering or putting fertilizer around the plants. But each year there was one morning when she did something different. With pruning scissors, she would cut off a lot of branches from the plants. After pruning, the rose garden looked like it just had a terrible haircut. It did not look neat at all. However, after some days new branches came out and at the height of the flowering season, full and luscious roses of all colors! Pruning does wonders!
“Pruning” is one consequence of our relationship with Jesus. He says: “”I am the vine and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit and everyone that does he prunes so it bears more fruit.”
The dictionary defines pruning as trimming by lopping off superfluous or unwanted parts. We are all aware of things in us that need to be pruned. A man, who can be you and me, drives his car every morning to the office. He gets terribly affected by the traffic and profusely blurts out expletives each time another car cuts into his lane. He arrives at the office hot-headed, affecting his work and his associates. He tries to overcome, to “prune,” so to speak, his attitude. This time, when caught in a traffic mess, the thought that he’s not the only traffic victim is a consolation. To the aggressive driver, he utters out a prayerful ‘bless you’ in place of an expletive. He arrives at the office cool and collected….more fruitful and productive.
What is superfluous in you that is better pruned so that your union with Jesus, the true vine, will grow and be more fruitful? (Fr. Gerry del Pinado, SVD Bible Diary 2004)
The Vine and the Branches
When she was younger, my mother loved to grow and tend roses. She spent early mornings either watering or putting fertilizer around the plants. But each year there was one morning when she did something different. With pruning scissors, she would cut off a lot of branches from the plants. After pruning, the rose garden looked like it just had a terrible haircut. It did not look neat at all. However, after some days new branches came out and at the height of the flowering season, full and luscious roses of all colors! Pruning does wonders!
“Pruning” is one consequence of our relationship with Jesus. He says: “”I am the vine and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit and everyone that does he prunes so it bears more fruit.”
The dictionary defines pruning as trimming by lopping off superfluous or unwanted parts. We are all aware of things in us that need to be pruned. A man, who can be you and me, drives his car every morning to the office. He gets terribly affected by the traffic and profusely blurts out expletives each time another car cuts into his lane. He arrives at the office hot-headed, affecting his work and his associates. He tries to overcome, to “prune,” so to speak, his attitude. This time, when caught in a traffic mess, the thought that he’s not the only traffic victim is a consolation. To the aggressive driver, he utters out a prayerful ‘bless you’ in place of an expletive. He arrives at the office cool and collected….more fruitful and productive.
What is superfluous in you that is better pruned so that your union with Jesus, the true vine, will grow and be more fruitful? (Fr. Gerry del Pinado, SVD Bible Diary 2004)
