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By Chiara Lubich May 2003 |
“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.”
Jesus is about to return to the Father. In his death and resurrection,
now imminent, the parable of the grain of wheat that falls to the ground
and dies, producing much fruit, is about to be fulfilled. Jesus carries
out his work: on the cross he gives himself completely (the grain of wheat
that dies) and with his resurrection he gives life to a new humanity (the
ear of wheat containing many grains). But Jesus wants his work to continue
in his disciples: they too will have to love to the point of giving their
lives and thereby generate the community. For this reason, when he spoke
to them at the Last Supper, he compared them to vine branches destined
to bear fruit.
Practically speaking, how can we be grafted onto the vine? Jesus explains
that to remain in him means to remain in his love (see Jn 15:9), to allow
his words to live in us (15:7), to keep his commandments (15:10), above
all “his” commandment: mutual love (15:12,17). During the Last
Supper, he also gave us his body and blood. Present in us and among us,
he will continue to bear fruit and carry out his work. But if we refuse
this relationship of love, we will be cut off:“He [my Father] takes
away every branch in me that does not bear fruit.”
This drastic action on the part of the Father definitely reawakens in
us the fear of the Lord. We cannot mistreat his love. Precisely because
God is Love, he is also just. If he cuts off a branch it is because it
is already dead, it condemned itself, we could say, for it refused the
sap and can no longer bear fruit. We could fall into the error of believing
that bearing fruit means activism, organizing activities, efficiency…
and forget what really counts: to be united to Jesus, to live in his grace
or at least to follow the dictates of our conscience. So the Father cuts
off the branch because, in spite of appearances, it has no life.
Does this mean that there is no hope? The vineyard of the Lord is something
mysterious. He surely knows how to reconnect a branch that has been cut
off: we can always experience a change of heart; we can always start over.
“… and everyone that does [bear fruit] he [my Father] prunes
so that it bears more fruit.”
How will I know that I am bearing fruit? Whoever sets out on the right
track will experience moments of trial which are expressions of God’s
love meant to purify our actions so that we bear more fruit, which is
what happens in nature through pruning. And so there are physical and
spiritual sufferings, illnesses, temptations, doubts, a feeling of being
abandoned by God—many quite different situations that speak to us
more of death than of life. Why? Could it be perhaps that God wants death?
No, on the contrary, God loves life, but a life so full and so fruitful
that in spite of all our striving for what is good, positive, and peaceful
we can’t even imagine it. This is the very reason why he prunes us.
“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.”
This Word of Life assures us that the trials and difficulties are never
an end in themselves. They come so that we can bear “more fruit.”
And not just in terms of fruitful apostolic endeavors capable of instilling
others with faith and building up the Christian community.
Jesus indicates other fruits as well. He promises us that if we remain
in his love and his words remain in us, we can ask whatever we want and
it will be given to us (see Jn 15:7,16); we will give glory to the Father
(15:8); and we will have the fullness of joy (15:11).
It makes sense then to entrust ourselves completely to the expert hands of the Father and to allow him to work in us.
The commentary to the Word of Life is translated
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