The Crescendo of God's Infinite Love

Homily
FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
14 MAY 2006

John 15: 1 - 8

[John 15:1] "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.
[John 15:2] He prunes away every barren branch, but the fruitful ones he trims clean to increase their yield.
[John 15:3] You are clean already, thanks to the word that I have spoken to you.
[John 15:4] Live on in me, as I do in you. No more than a branch can bear fruit of itself apart from the vine, can you bear fruit apart from me.
[John 15:5] I am the vine, you are the branches. He who lives in me and I in him, will produce abundantly, for apart from me you can do nothing.
[John 15:6] A man who does not live in me is like a withered, rejected branch, picked up to be thrown in the fire and burnt.
[John 15:7] If you live in me, and my words stay part of you, you may ask what you will--it will be done for you.
[John 15:8] My Father has been glorified in your bearing much fruit and becoming my disciples."
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[1 John 3:18] Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.
[1 John 3:19] (Now) this is how we shall know that we belong to the truth and reassure our hearts before him
[1 John 3:20] in whatever our hearts condemn, for God is greater than our hearts and knows everything.
[1 John 3:21] Beloved, if (our) hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence in God
[1 John 3:22] and receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
[1 John 3:23] And his commandment is this: we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us.
[1 John 3:24] Those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them, and the way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit that he gave us.
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1. Introduction

In Holy Scripture, the relationship between Our Lord and His church has been expressed in several different ways:

1. Jesus as the bridegroom of His bride, the church.

2. Jesus as the head of His body, the church.

3. Jesus as vine, and members of His church as branches.

One of the places where Jesus refers to Himself as bridegroom is Luke chapter 5:

[Luke 5:33] And they said to him, "The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same; but yours eat and drink."
[Luke 5:34] Jesus answered them, "Can you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?

Jesus is described as head of the body in chapter 1 of Paul's letter to the Colossians:

[Col 1:17] He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
[Col 1:18] He is the head of the body, the church.

The metaphor of vine and branches is used by Our Lord in today's Gospel, in which He declares that

"I am the vine, you are the branches."

A branch connected to its vine receives life from the vine which enables it to produce fruit. If the branch is severed from the vine, not only can it not bear fruit, but it withers and dies, and is picked up and cast into fire to be burnt.

So too with each of us. Insofar as we remain connected to the vine; that is, insofar as we remain in union with Jesus, we receive the divine life which enables us to bear fruit pleasing to the Father.

2. Jesus is the Bearer of the Spirit

We participate in the divine life through the power of the Holy Spirit. This John states in today's second reading:

...the way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit that he gave us.

When we are in union with Jesus, the Holy Spirit is active within us. If we become severed from the vine; if we become separated from Jesus, we no longer have the Holy Spirit within us, become spiritually withered, and then can do absolutely nothing in the supernatural order. Jesus states this clearly in today's Gospel by declaring that

"...apart from me you can do nothing."

3. Gifts and Fruits

Through our baptism, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. We are as vessels filled with the living water of the life of God. As it says in Paul's second letter to the Corinthians:

[2 Cor 4:7] But we hold this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us.

When later we are confirmed, we are empowered to minister the divine life given to us to others. We read this in chapter 7 of the Gospel of John:

[John 7:38] Whoever believes in me, as scripture says: 'Rivers of living water will flow from within him.'"
[John 7:39] He said this in reference to the Spirit that those who came to believe in him were to receive.

St. Thomas Aquinas states that the proper personal name of the Holy Spirit is "Gift". The one gift of the Holy Spirit is expressed in Catholic tradition in terms of the seven sanctifying gifts of the Spirit:

wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord.

These gifts of the Spirit are essential for salvation. In addition to the seven sanctifying gifts, the Spirit bestows, on who He wills, a large number of ministry gifts called "charisms", such as word of wisdom, discernment of spirits, administration, and prophecy. These are gifts of power which are used to minister the Spirit to others, through witness and acts of charity.

It is through the sanctifying and ministry gifts of the Spirit that we are to produce the fruits of the Spirit, among which are those listed in Galatians chapter 5:

[Gal 5:22] ... the fruit(s) of the Spirit (are) love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness,
[Gal 5:23] gentleness, self-control.

The Holy Spirit does His part through His granting to us His sanctifying and ministry gifts.

We are to do our part by producing the fruits of the Spirit. For this, our union with Jesus is essential, as He states in today's Gospel:

No more than a branch can bear fruit of itself apart from the vine, can you bear fruit apart from me.

4. The Crescendo of God's Love for Us

As branches connected to a vine, our union with Jesus causes us to experience a mounting crescendo of God's love. This crescendo is that of Jesus as savior, Jesus as redeemer, and Jesus as bearer of the Spirit.

4.1 Jesus is Savior

First, Jesus as savior saves us from eternal separation from God and grants us eternal life as we read in Paul's second letter to Timothy:

[2 Tim 1:9] (God) saved us and called us to a holy life, not according to our works but according to his own design and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began,
[2 Tim 1:10] but now made manifest through the appearance of our savior Christ Jesus, who destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel...

4.2 Jesus is Redeemer

Not only is Jesus our savior, He is our redeemer. He could have saved us by a simple fiat, such as He spoke at the creation of the world. Instead, He redeemed us at a price: that price was His passion, death, and resurrection:

[1 Cor 6:19] Do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?
[1 Cor 6:20] For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body.

4.3 Jesus is Bearer of the Spirit

The crescendo of God's love continues. Not only is Jesus our savior and redeemer, He is the bearer of the Spirit which He bequeathes to us. He promises the Spirit in John 15:

[John 15:26] "When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me.

In fulfillment of His promise, He first gives the Spirit to the apostles:

[John 20:21] (Jesus) said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you."
[John 20:22] And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the holy Spirit.

Then on Pentecost Sunday, He sent forth His Spirit upon all the church:

[Acts 2:1] When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together.
...
[Acts 2:4] And they were all filled with the holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.

The culmination of salvation history, through the Holy Spirit given to us by Jesus from the Father, is the culmination of the infinite crescendo of the love of God.

It is more than being saved from eternal separation from God;

it is more than the power to behold God face to face in the light of glory;

it is in fact the actual, real participation in the divine life itself.

This we are promised in one of the most stupendous verses in all of scripture, in chapter 3 of the Book of Revelation, verse 21:

[Rev 3:21] I will give the victor the right to sit with me on my throne, as I myself first won the victory and sit with my Father on his throne.

In the Christian West this is called "divinization"; in the Christian East this is called "theosis".

This participation in the divine life is conferred on us at baptism, and through the sacrament of confirmation is manifested in our giving glory to the Father by bearing fruit in ministering the divine life to others.

5. Epilogue

On this Mothers' Day 2006, we conclude by saluting all the mothers of this parish and of the world, living or dead, with words from the end of today's Gospel:

"My Father has been glorified in your bearing much fruit."