5th Sunday of Easter

I would like to congratulate 2 of our children who made their First Communion last Sunday. I would also like to thank their parents, family members, especially their religion teachers for taking their time to prepare those little angels for their first confessions and communion.

Today's readings remind us that God the Father is glorified when we bear much fruit and become the disciples of Christ. In the Gospel Reading, Jesus summarized how we can bear much fruit. He said that those who abide in Him and He in them bear much fruit. In other words, those who embrace a spiritual life by seeking to grow in holiness, in them Jesus dwells, the relationship that we should have with Jesus is compared to the branch of a vine. While the vine takes its nourishment from the ground, the branches receive their food and water from the vine. The vine is the source from which the branches receive their living water that gives them life and makes them bloom. If the living water was to be cut off from the branches, they would dry up, die and decay.

The vine seeks to feed the branches to ensure that they will receive the maximum spiritual food and living water that they need to bear much fruit. Should any of the branches reject the Source of Life and bear no fruit, the Heavenly Father prunes them from the vine. As long as the brnches cooperate with the vine, they will freely receive life. A failure to cooperate means an inescapable death, eternal separation from the Lord Jesus.

In the First Reading, we read how St. Paul and the disciples of Jesus were striving to bear much fruit. We heard that when Paul arrived in Jerusalem to join the disciples, they were already shining in the fruit of the Spirit. When Paul tried to join them, the disciples avoided him with great fear. They knew that he had a reputation of persecuting the Christians. Paul preaches the Word of God in Jerusalem with the disciples, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. And finally, when his life was threatened because of his service to the Lord, the believers took Paul to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

In the Second Reading, St. John reminds us that we are commanded to love in truth and in action. Words or speech are not love. It is just talking. ..talk with no action. True love shines in truth and action. True love shines in the keeping of promises that have been made. It is not surrounded by one broken promise after another.

God calls us to begin much fruit as disciples of Jesus. Through our faith in Jesus and our love towards others, the Heavenly Father is glorified. When we as Christians bear much fruit, through our living faith in Christ. God the Father is glorified.

Let us go forth this wek and glorify the Heavenly Father through our living faith in Jesus Christ. 

                                        God Bless All of Us

                                                            Fr. D

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