5TH SUNDAY OF EASTER Acts 9:26-31, Ps 22, 1 John 3;18-24, John 15:1-9 In today’s gospel Jesus is trying to teach those around him how we all belong together. In order to emphasis this he uses a very common agricultural example taken from a garden or orchard. As a person in the Middle East who depended on plants and gardens for survival, and where wine was an essential drink, Jesus would have been familiar with the need and benefits of pruning. And it is also that time of the year when many of you may take out your electric hedge trimmers. Jesus tells us today that he is the vine and we are the branches. That example might have great meaning in Palestine where most families had their own grape vines. If Jesus were living in this part of the North Country he might have used the example of apple trees instead of grape vines. Those of you who have done some pruning of vines or branches know pruning sheers can be dangerous to a vine or a tree. If not done right and at the proper time you could kill the vine. When a vineyard is begun, vintners know that it will take several years for a vine to produce the quality of grape necessary for making wine. Young vines are not even allowed to produce fruit for the first several years. They are continually pruned back to allow the plant to sink deep roots and for the main vine to grow thick and strong. Drastic pruning takes place so the plant can develop to its potential. When it is time to let the vine start producing grapes, the branches are not allowed to grow very long. The farther the bunch of grapes is from the main part of the vine, the less they develop in quality. The house plant, the bush and the vine must be cut back if they are to grow. If there is no cutting, then the plant never reaches its potential. Unlike a tree, a grapevine has a relatively small central trunk. Pruning in the proper time with the proper tools and the proper technique improves survival chances at planting time, controls size and shape. removes dead, diseased, weak or broken branches. maintains natural beauty. controls flowering, fruiting or colored twig effect in certain plants. Our first reading tells us how God pruned Saul who became St. Paul. Saul had just finishing throwing stones to kill Stephen. On his way to Damascus to kill more Christians he was thrown off his horse, and turned to Jesus. And became one of Jesus’ great followers. The mystery of plant pruning is also the story of our lives. We too are like the plant that needs to be pruned. For some people surgery or serious sickness has been pruning time. A stay in the hospital oftens brings persons back to their faith. Relationships also have a tendency to prune people. It might be a husband and wife relationship, or one between friends or within a community. Pruning takes place when we admit mistakes, accept others as they are, overlook the faults of others, see the goodness in others in spite of their humanity. Many of us have experienced pruning in prayer. Sometimes we have to give away the old forms of prayer and accept newer forms as we did in late November when we used new prayers and responses at Mass. Otherwise we continue saying prayers but never praying. The various changes in our Mass can be examples of this pruning, the greatest being from years ago when we prayed the Mass in Latin and you people in the pews were told to be silent and pray your Rosary. Pruning can hurt and it can be difficult especially if we are trying to give up an old habit. Union with the wine, however does not always guarantee a peaceful life. St. Paul, for instance, met death threats and had to escape over the city wall in a basket. I am sure he had expected something better as he began to preach in the name of Jesus. Those of you experience that same pain at times when others wonder why you continue to go to church when so many in our society do not, or why you try your best to live as you believe that God would want you to live. When we try to avoid the pruning however, what happens is that we sprout all over the place, we have no direction, we have no depth; plenty of branches but we produce nothing worthwhile. Pruning reveals to us the immense goodness of Jesus, a Jesus who has no harshness, no urge to control others, or to make us feel guilty. All he ever wants is the best for each of us. You may not have ever considered that Jesus is talking to each one of us in his example. As Jesus tells us today, we must be connected to him in order to have a spiritual life. If we are connected, however, Jesus promises us everything. I AM THE VINE, YOU ARE THE BRANCHES. IF YOU REMAIN IN ME, ASK FOR WHATEVER YOU WANT AND I WILL GIVE IT TO YOU. This sentence also teachers us that we are connected to each other. We are all branches on the same vine. We may not like all the other branches, or we may think they are in need of serious pruning or cutting. Yet our initials are not carved on the trimmer. God’s is. We are not in charge of pruning others. God is. Our job is to stay connected to the vine and to one another, and even to welcome those that we might find distasteful or suspicious. It is Jesus himself who will be the judge of those branches which are useless and produce nothing. Our job is to always stay connected to Jesus and to our religious faith.