"The blossoming vines give out their fragrance. Come then, my beloved, my lovely one, come."
The song of the lovers in the Canticle of Canticles gives us a sense of the extent to which, in the land of Palestine, the vine evokes the exuberance of life, the feast, the gratuity of the gift.
The vine serves no other purpose than to give its fruit, to be a source of joy.
The heady wine speaks of God's generosity, his passionate love for his people: Israel is the chosen vine, the fruit of God's hopes.
Every time the vine becomes unfaithful and its branches do not bear fruit, they are collected and thrown on the fire to be burned.
When God the vinedresser no longer knows what to do with the barren branches, he sends his only begotten and beloved Son.
Jesus identifies with the guilty people and in him the vine flourishes again. God gathers the fruit of love in the death of Jesus.
His blood poured out becomes the wine of the last supper, the wedding wine for an eternal covenant. In the silence of the paschal night is heard the song of the Beloved for his vineyard.
We are the branches
"I am the vine and you are the branches." This is the mystery of the true vine which is inseparably Christ and the Church.
We are the branches, each one of us. We abide in him and are unified in him. We are the true vine of God.
This vine bears fruit if we allow ourselves to be pruned and if we remain in Christ. If we remain, we are pruned to bear more fruit. And we bear fruit only if we remain in him.
So being pruned to bear more fruit is a very good thing. But we are painfully surprised by the scale of the trials. The pruning is often rough, we no longer understand, we start to doubt, everything seems to get lost in the fog and the darkness.
In the constraints and difficulties we've experienced during the pandemic, can we talk about the number of believers in a society that is becoming dechristianized and presenting with tough questions?
We know we have been pruned. We know what has been torn from us and that, through the trials that have been thrust upon us, we have to let ourselves be stripped of all that is illusory, useless and superfluous.
But now is the time to remain: to remain at the heart of our faith, with the Paschal Christ.
Now is the time to persist in prayer, to remain in friendship with him, to stick to the framework of our Christian life of faith, hope and charity.
It is a time of patience and gentleness. It is a time for us to testify that even by being pruned, we can remain calm, stable and steadfast in him because he remains in us.
To an anxious and agitated world, let us offer a discreet word of encouragement by witnessing in our daily lives the source of peace and strength that dwells in us, that of living day after day with Christ.
This week's reflection was provided by the Discalced Carmelite Nuns of Frileuse south of Paris.
"fruit" - Google News
May 01, 2021 at 05:00AM
https://ift.tt/332IP85
Pruned to bear fruit - La Croix International
"fruit" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2pWUrc9
https://ift.tt/3aVawBg
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Pruned to bear fruit - La Croix International"
Post a Comment