April 28, 2024
That is what God wants for your life. But how is it possible, especially when things are not going well?
Key Points
- Is bearing fruit the same as “being successful”?
- How can our fruit last forever?
- How is God pruning you?
- What is the one thing we need to do to bear fruit?
- Pruned + abide = fruitful.
This is a computer-generated transcription that has been included to make the homily searchable. It has not been verified by the author.
“I am the true 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 that it bears more fruit.” Throughout human history, there’s been a lot of poets and sages, and even just common people who have seen in nature, a lot of lessons for us. And we could just think here, here in this chapel, which is so exposed to nature, just for instance, a day like this, which can seem kind of gloomy. But brings this rain, which is so needed. Here, we need rain so badly in this area, and just our little mission of which functions, like a lot of people here in this area, by wells. So this is so many blessings in a rain like this. And also, it’s kind of just, this kind of cloudiness also kind of invites for more introspection, at Mass. But the difference between what we just read from the gospel is, it’s not somebody, or some human trying to see how there’s lessons in nature. But it’s the very source of nature, the One who created and designed it all, who is speaking to us, He who is infinite, divine mystery. But as revealing to us how there are signs of that divine mystery that nature itself, like the book, nature’s like a book, then, which speaks to us of these divine mysteries. And so he gives us one important example. And this is an important example because this is at the Last Supper. Jesus, this is one of His last hours of freedom with His apostles. And so how important must this be that at that point, or when He knows what’s coming? This is so important. And what He does is He uses, again, like a parable of, in this case, the vine. And so, this, I think, I wanted to focus on three points that this gospel is speaking about. First of all, the, what does God want for you and for me? What does He want for your life? And my life? And second, what is He doing to make that happen? And third, what does He need you to do? What depends on you? Not on Him, but on you to do. So what does He want for your life? What is he doing? And what depends on you? So the first point, what does God want? And Jesus says it very clearly, to bear much fruit. Do you want your life to bear much fruit? I think all of us do. Right? Sometimes it’s expressed what you know, the from the very beginning of creation, God created men and women. He said be fruitful and multiply. And so that certainly has a sense of having children. But it’s not limited to having children. And so Jesus is speaking again now, of bearing fruit. And sometime people speak of a life which has, which leaves a legacy, a life that matters that makes a difference. And I want to read to you something about a young woman who came a number of times to this chapel. And this is written by her father because he said this is about Anna Macias, written by her father Eduardo. It says, our daughter Anna passed. She was 16 years old and had suffered from cancer since she was 10 months old. And so then he gives a quote of something that she said or wrote, I guess not too long before her passing. She says, “See, the thing is, my biggest fear about dying is,” so this young woman 16 years old, what is her biggest fear about dying? And she says, “it’s being forgotten.” She says, “I know it sounds selfish, but it terrifies me to think that my life did not affect anyone. Okay, so maybe it did before dying. But I also want to keep changing lives afterwards. To keep changing lives afterwards because our life here is so short,” I guess that’s what a legacy is right? I want to leave a legacy, you know, she’s not going to be able to, you know, she doesn’t have billions of dollars to set up a foundation or something. She says, “I don’t want to be forgotten. some way, somehow, I want to leave a positive influence on those who knew me, and maybe some who didn’t.” Like you all. “I don’t necessarily mean to start a foundation or something, although that would be cool.” She says, “just use me as an example, to inspire people. Because I know there’s got to be something in my life that someone can use to learn from.” So we see in this young woman who knows that death is not far away, that she wants to leave a legacy, a life that makes and keeps on making a difference. So that’s what we’re talking about, about bearing much fruit. So we can make an examination of conscience and say, Is my life bearing much fruit? Is my life bearing much fruit? Does that question make us feel uncomfortable? Because we probably, for a lot of us, that’s probably feels like a painful question. And it might seem kind of impossible when you’re young. And you might think, well, there’s all sorts of possibilities. As we get older, those possibilities begin to diminish. And so it might seem impossible. And Jesus doesn’t even just say, bear much fruit, which is already very challenging. But He says, fruit that will last, fruit that will last, for how long, lasts for how long? For 50 years. 400 years. You know, some people have statues made about them, so that people will remember them. And maybe some people, you know, maybe they’ve raised, give money to start a museum or something, which was something that were carried their name, to try to make their name last, and their influence last. But how long does Jesus mean? He means forever, that will last forever, for all eternity. What can I do, that can make my life fruitful, memorable, important, not just for the time on earth, and not just for 50 or 100 years, but forever. The only thing that can do that is what is eternal. What is and the only thing that is eternal is what is from God. So this is more than just being effective, or successful, or getting things done. There was a famous book written not too long ago called “Getting Things Done,” about productivity, have been productive. And then we can think of some of the great examples of history of some of the persons who seemed most effective. You’re like, say, Alexander the Great, or Napoleon, or Stalin or Mao, you know, these people had a huge impact. You know, but let’s say Alexander the Great had extraordinary impact, but he died in his 30s, and immediately his empire was divided up. And or Napoleon, you know, huge impact, but then he was defeated, and, and died in exile, and his great empire didn’t even last throughout his lifetime. And how much good fruit that it produced? And how much terrible fruit did it produce? So there’s a lot of people trying to be successful, and trying to leave a lasting impact, who not only don’t leave an eternal impact, but the impact that they have is actually terrible, terrible, and it’s going to be a condemnation for them. So what can we do to help leave a lasting impact? You know that there’s one famous example is someone like St. Therese, you know, who, who died, she joined a caramel and I think she was about 15 when she joined and she died in her 20s. And some of the nuns at her death thought, well, it’s not much to say about her life, you know, because she just entered the caramel and then dies. But so many millions of people have had their lives blessed by her and I use that as an example of how God can continue for a life to bring blessings way beyond what we could understand humanly, way beyond our earthly life. So how can we make this happen? Because we’re not capable of something that can do, that has these eternal fruits. Now there’s been a lot of books written on success and productivity, and a lot of experts, but the world expert in fruitfulness, is Jesus Christ. The one great expert. So why don’t all those experts say, you know, I should maybe shut up a little bit and listen to Jesus, or I should share with you about Jesus, because He’s the one who really knows. Not to many them do that, right. But Jesus is the expert on productivity, on fruitfulness, and true fruitfulness. And so that’s what He wants for you. He wants your life to be fruitful, not just a little bit fruitful, but abundantly fruitful, forever. And so now the second point, What is God doing for that? And He says, “every branch that does bear fruit,” what does He do? He congratulates. It doesn’t say that right? He says “He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit.” This is mysterious. But think about that. I mean, it’s if you were, if you didn’t know what pruning did, it would seem like the last thing you want to do to make something bear fruit. I went to a community, I used to belong to the brothers of St. John, I was in France. And so I got to see a lot of vineyards. And for a person who wasn’t accustomed to vineyards, it was really striking to see what the pruning did, because when you saw those that had been pruned, there was almost nothing left, you just had these little stumps. And it would seem like the last thing you want to do to take all this big, big, big, bushy, vine, and cut it down to this almost nothing left. If you didn’t know about it, doesn’t that seem crazy? It seemed like you’re gonna kill it. And if you don’t know how to prune, if you don’t do it the right way, at the right time, and the right amount, you could destroy it, because the pruning can be very severe. And so it has to be done by someone who knows what they’re doing. And so Jesus says that this is what God is doing with us. He’s pruning us. And that’s very important to realize because it might feel like He’s torturing us. Like He’s destroying us. And we can feel sadness, and anger, and fear and despair. When He begins to prune us, and we don’t know what’s going on, and especially why would God do this to me. Because, again, if someone doesn’t know what they’re doing, it could be, it could be very dangerous. Sometimes we’ve had some people with our community, and some communities plan a lot of penances to really put people to the test. But in our community, we don’t do that too much. Because what we see is God does that. And like a one young man who spent a year, two semesters with our community as part of the St. Gabriel’s, as you know, was sharing with me about this experience that he’d had about, like, sensing like some of Jesus agony. And, you know, that’s very dangerous. I mean, if we were trying to do that, do that humanly, that’s very dangerous, because you could push a person over the edge. And so but God knows what He can do, what a person can handle. And so even from evil, this is a sign that God can bring good. Because like the apostles at the crucifixion, most of them weren’t there physically, but the whole crucifixion served, it was like also like a pruning for them, a pruning of their ideas, their human ideas, that human criteria, they’re confidence in themselves; we can do this, if everybody else denies you, I won’t. You know that pride, that self-confidence which was not from God, and their excessive attachment to their own understanding, to their ways of thinking. And so that the cross ended up being for them, like a pruning, a great pruning of so much that had to be taken away. And so why this example is so important, is Jesus is helping us to understand what is happening. Because if we don’t understand what’s happening, it can cause us to despair, because He’s showing us that the pain is temporary, but the fruit is lasting. And so what are some of the things that He can take away from us, you know, He can take away things, material things, He can take away positions, you know, jobs, and you know, some things that we’re proud of. He can take away our health, and our abilities. And that happens to us as we get older, with age or illness or accidents. Sometimes he takes persons away from us, like, say, a spiritual director, a person who was very helpful for us. And we said, why would the Lord take that person away? I mean, think of Jesus himself. In fact, He’ll say this at His very last supper, that He is going to be taken away. And how could that be beneficial? Right? If our whole life is about being united to Jesus, how could it be beneficial for us, that Jesus Himself be taken away from them. And Jesus says that at His very last supper. He says, “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the counselor, the paraclete, the Holy Spirit will not come to you. But if I go, I will send them to you.” So there it is being proved, even by Jesus, not their spiritual connection with Jesus, but the ability to have Jesus right there with them physically, visibly present. And that great gift, they will be pruned of that. They had it for a time, and then He will be taken away from them, so that their union with Him, can be more by the Holy Spirit. And then there is the great pruning of death. Like Anna Macias, this young woman who had to let go of so many things that a young woman might be hoping to do and experience and accomplish in her life. And she had to be letting go of those because she knew. And as difficult as that is, it’s also I think, a grace, to know that death was approaching. Because death is approaching for all of us, right. But we, we forget that. And so, death is a great pruning, in which we have to let go of all those things. All those human things that we’re holding on to, we have to let go of. And so our life on this earth ends with that final pruning. And I think, for instance, just to take the example of our little Mission of Divine Mercy, which is so small, and it’s like these have been long years of being pruned. And even when there’s a little branch, it starts to grow, that it’s pruned. And so I think the Lord has gone a little bit crazy on the pruning. But it, you know, when you start a community want it to grow and bear lots of fruit. And I think the Lord is, but there can be a lot of pride in that. And a community, I used to belong to the brothers St. John, when I joined, they were growing very, very fast when the fastest growing communities in the world. And, but there’s a lot of danger in that. And so, and they’ve experienced a lot of trials since then, and I think they’re going through a terrible pruning right now. Very painful. And so this pruning helps us to understand what the Lord might be doing. One of the things, one things for instance, for myself as guardian of this little community, as Guardian, you’re supposed to be responsible, right? So you have to be careful. And you have you have you’re supposed to make your plans and then try to realize those plans. But so many times when we try to do that those, the members of our community and our staff knows that our Lord just prunes those, so terribly. I’ll give you one example. I don’t want to go on too long, but just one example. So we were trying to build a; we were not living here, we were living over 20 minutes from here. We’ve been living there for 10 years, but we needed a place to live. And so we started looking. Well, it’d be a lot cheaper if we could just find a couple houses nearby. Because monasteries are very expensive. So we spent, I don’t know how long, maybe about a year looking for places, and there was nothing available. So finally we said, well, we’re going to have to raise money to build one. So that’s very difficult. So we went through this whole work with an architect, and then we have to do a fundraiser. So we threw this fundraiser, which we don’t hardly ever do. We did at one in New Braunfels. And then the day after we did that, a house suddenly became available, which hadn’t been available. And then we checked and then another house, another guy said, Well, okay, I’m willing to sell my house, too. So the day after we went through all this rigamarole and had our big fundraiser, it suddenly becomes possible to buy the houses, which was our original plan in the beginning. And just a little example of how so many times we’ve had to surrender and say, Okay, God, you’re in control. You have your timetable. We’re just going to try to follow what you want us to do. So I mean, it’s like the pruning of our plans. And so, so it’s helpful for us to ask, “how is God pruning you?” How has He pruned you in your life? You know, sometimes God’s trying to prune us and we’re resisting, right? He’s trying to cut off a branch we’re trying to hold on to the branch. No, no. And it’s kind of a tug of war sometimes. And so you can think how has God pruned me? Or wanted to prune me? And sometimes maybe I’ve resisted. And how is He pruning you now? Is God pruning you now? And how? And do you accept His pruning? It’s not easy, right? I mean, we don’t, a lot of times we don’t think of it as His pruning. But a lot of times if we realize that, we can begin to then realize what Jesus is saying, that’s what’s happening. I just thought the bad things were happening to me. And God was letting bad things happen to me. I didn’t realize that He was pruning me. So do I accept His pruning? So that’s what God does, He prunes us. And so now, the third and final point, what do we have to do? What is Jesus asking us to do? So what is to bear much fruit? What does He not say? He doesn’t say a lot of the things that experts in having a productive life say. He doesn’t say that we have to be capable, or talented, or clever, or crafty, or ambitious, or competitive or ruthless, or that we have to be wealthy or that we have to be lucky. Or that we have to sell our soul, which is what a lot of people end up in one way or another doing. He doesn’t even say that we have to get married and have children, though that’s a beautiful vocation for many. But what does he say? That again, this is the world expert on productivity, and fruitfulness. And so He says, one thing is necessary. He doesn’t give a list of 10 things, and each one of them with a lot of sub points that were too complicated. He says one thing that we have to do. So let’s listen to him. He says, “Abide in me.” One thing, Abide in me. He says, “Abide in Me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself.” And that’s a danger. We’re trying to bear fruit by ourselves. “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.” Now listen to that sentence. Because what he’s saying is that there is as I didn’t make this up, he’s saying that there’s one condition to bear much fruit. “He who abides in Me and I in him. He it is the bears much fruit.” No matter what limits we have in our life, no matter what things we don’t have. If we do this one thing He says, we will not only bear fruit, we will bear much fruit. Then He goes on to say, “for apart from me, you can do nothing.” Well does that make sense, because there’s a lot of people do a lot of things apart from him, it seems like, but will those things bear fruit for eternity and if not, for all eternity, there’ll be nothing. But other things that can be very impressive to us, you know, I don’t know, like maybe winning an academy award or something like that. In eternity, if that wasn’t in God, it’ll be nothing, and sometimes worse than nothing. But what He’s saying here is that this is your free choice. This depends on you, God can’t force this, this depends on you. God can help. But this, He’s given this to you to make this decision. So He’s saying that the key is our willingness, our openness, to be united to Him, so that His grace, His power, His action, can flow through us, like the sap flowing from the vine through the branches. But what about if we feel that our life is very messed up, we’ve had many failures, many disasters. Remember that it was on the cross, when Jesus seemed like a complete failure, and that His life could no longer bear any fruit. What seemed like the worst moment, the destruction of all fruitfulness in His life, was actually that moment of the greatest fruitfulness for all eternity. And so when we bring our crosses to Jesus, and that’s what the offertory is, for the Mass, it’s an opportunity for Him to permit the painful crosses that we’ve experienced, to bear fruit for eternity. When especially when the cross has helped us to be united to Him, but what about if we sinned a lot. Recognizing, recognizing humbly, the truth of our sins, and turning with trust, to His Divine Mercy. And doing the penance that He asks of us, all that sinfulness can begin to be changed. Jesus even says “the greater the sinner,” He said to St. Faustina, “the greater their right to my mercy.” And remember what He said to the good thief, “today you will be with me in Paradise.” And so He goes on to say in the Gospel about how to abide in His love. He says, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.” So keeping His commandments, doing His will, is the path to remaining in Him so that our life can bear abundant fruit. So to conclude, finally, remembering this young woman, Anna Macias, who’s continuing to bear fruit today, as we reflect on what she shared, So summarizing what I said that the Lord wants your life to bear much fruit, eternal fruit. And for that, He prunes you. But He needs something from us, which is to abide in Him, accepting our free acceptance of His pruning, and willingness to accept His will. And so we can ask our Blessed Mother, who was pruned so painfully, she who had no sin, but still had to be pruned, of so many normal, good human desires, like the desire to have her son there with her, and had to be pruned so painfully, but she has been fruitful, like no other. And so this Mass is an opportunity for you as we listen to the word of the Lord in His gospel, to make an act of faith and trust in Him that He wants your life to bear good fruit. And so the offertory is an opportunity to accept His pruning in our lives, even if we don’t understand it. And I’m not just talking to you, I’m talking to myself because it’s not easy. And then in Holy Communion is all about abiding in Him, remaining in Him. And so, let us prepare now for Holy Communion with our Blessed Mother. “He who abides in Me and I and him. He it is that bears much fruit. Fruit that will last forever.” Amen. And I’m just going to say a few words in Spanish.
KEYWORDS / PHRASES:
John 15:1-8