Sunday, April 28, 2024

FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

(Acts 9:26-31, I John 3:18-24; John 15:1-8)

Jesus is recognized now as in his time as a storyteller. As we know, his stories are called “parables”, which means comparisons. Jesus could compare spiritual concepts with everyday things to help people understand their meaning.

The richest parables like “the Good Samaritan” appear in the Gospel of Luke. The simplest comparisons to the sower are found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. But what about the Gospel of John? Are there parabolas in it?

Yes, there are, but they are expressed differently. Instead of telling the story of the shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine sheep to search for the lost one, Jesus says in John’s Gospel: “I am the Good Shepherd.” We have another parable like that in the gospel today. Instead of talking about the need to bear good fruit as he says in the other gospels, Jesus says in John: “'I am the vine, you are the branches; He who abides in me and I in him, that one bears abundant fruit…’”’

It is not that just by staying in Christ that we, his disciples, produce much fruit. Jesus adds that the branches must be pruned by the Father. That is, we are formed with the word of God, the Scriptures, so that our works may be productive. Saint Catherine of Siena, whose feast day is celebrated tomorrow, can help us here with her profound understanding of the spiritual life. Although she had to teach herself to read, Catherine knew the Scriptures well. In her book The Dialogue she prescribes three virtues derived from the Scriptures with which we are pruned to bear fruit in abundance.

First of all, according to Catherine, the disciples of Christ have to cultivate sacrificial love or charity. Jesus tells the rich young man that such love for God and others is the way to eternal life. Catherine, always inventing parables of her own, compares charity with the life of the tree. She says that without this life the tree produces not fruit but only death.

Charity often appears as the patience that suffers without demanding recriminations. The soul that practices patience is united with Christ who suffered death on the cross without murmuring against his persecutors. The First Letter of Peter tells us: “When he was insulted, he did not return the insult, and while he suffered he did not utter threats; On the contrary, he entrusted his cause to him who judges rightly” (I Peter 2:23).

How do we cultivate sacrificial love? Catalina expresses the conviction that humility is the earth around the tree of the soul that nourishes love. It is the second virtue necessary to produce good fruit. Humility knows itself as nothing without God and recognizes God for His superabundant goodness. As Saint Paul writes to the Corinthians: "...we carry this treasure in earthen vessels, so that it may appear that the extraordinary greatness of the power is from God, and that it does not come from us " (II Corinthians 4,7).

It would be difficult to find someone with more humility than Saint Catherine herself. She often confessed that her sins were enough to entangle the entire world in injustice. She prayed: “O eternal Father! I accuse myself before you, asking that you punish my sins in this life.  And since I by my sins am the cause of the sufferings my neighbors must endure, I beg you in mercy to punish me for them.

Discretion, the third virtue necessary to produce abundant fruit, knows what things are due to God, self, and others. Without this discretion, God says in The Dialogue – the soul would be lost in pride, stealing God's honor and giving it to itself. According to Catherine, discretion indicates that we owe our neighbors a five-part debt: the affection of charity, humble and continuous mutual prayer, doctrine, the good example of a holy and honest life, and advice and help to achieve the health of their soul. At least the first item of the list reminds us of the words to Saint Paul in the Letter to the Romans: “Do no other debt than mutual love” (Romans 13:8).

Pursuing charity, humility, and discretion is asking a lot of us. We might ask: why do we want to produce good fruit? The answer comes from God in The Dialogue: This tree (the soul whose life is charity nourished with humility and using discretion) "yields the fragrance of glory and praise to my name, and so it does what I created it for and comes at last to its goal, to me, everlasting Life, life that cannot be taken away from you against your will."