Reflection for the Fifth Sunday of Easter – May 10, 2009

“I am the vine, my Father is the vine grower and you are the branches.” (John 15:1)

I have friends who have a vineyard. Ten years ago Nella and Jim tilled the soil, dug deep holes with an auger, planted over three hundred small vines deep into the soil, put in posts to support the wire trellises and became “vine growers.” The process of preparing and sustaining a vineyard takes hard work, incredible dedication and love. Yet the first crop year was less than successful due to too much rain and too many deer. With fencing and more vines, the harvest has increased in each subsequent year but not without the sustaining efforts of these two vine growers. At summer’s end, lush bunches of grapes are harvested and processed. The reward is over 120 gallons of juice which then goes into the fermenting process and becomes wine! In autumn comes the pruning back, the resting of the roots and the apparent dying that readies the vines for new growth the following spring. It seems to me there’s a message for us here. Are we willing to be pruned, to go into the autumn moments of our lives and deeply reconnect ourselves to our source?

Yahweh “brought a vine out of Egypt…it sent out branches to the sea, shoots as far as the river…” (Ps. 80:9, 12) This analogy, describing Israel as Yahweh’s vine, occurs multiple times in Hebrew Scripture. The disciples of Jesus were familiar with this concept and most likely understood the shift that had taken place in their relationship to him when he said “I am the vine…you are the branches.” This seems to be the strongest statement of Jesus’ relationship to all and they got the message!

Today is Mother’s Day and it is special for our family this year as we celebrate a new addition. A grand-niece, Hayley Grace, was born two weeks ago, the first branch on the Barnes-Jamison vine. Looking at them together and looking back, I realize that there is a divine intimacy at work in this new family. Hayley’s nine month in her “little home” and her total dependence on her parents led me to see the similarities of “vine growers” both human and divine. No fetus can sustain itself without the attachment to its mother. After birth, parents spend unbelievable time continuing that love and devotion with much pruning and propping up along the way. Parents are the life line, the vines from which we all have grown. And we have come to know that Jesus with his unconditional love is the life giving vine, the intimate source for our lifetime of growth. This Source flows through us, but only as long as we nourish it by staying connected to the vine.

Many of us have given birth to ideas, actions and for some, children, which have changed people’s lives. We have been the vine to others as Jesus is the vine that nourishes us. The gift of Jesus was not a one-time event. Our God, our Vine-grower, continues to give us Jesus as the constant connection to the ultimate, intimate Source. We hear through Barnabas in the first reading, about St. Paul witnessing to Jesus. Paul, as we know, was dramatically grafted onto the vine. He came to know that we “love not in word or speech but in deed and truth” (1 John 3:18) He got the message! We also get the message and it seems simple – “Love one another…as he commanded us.” (1 John 3:23) Living it day in and day out is our call. Just like our vine grower friends, we just have to do it and without reservation. Our very life depends on our connection!

Reflection by Peggy Cekoric, SCNY Associate
(Peggy Cekoric is a wife, mother, grandmother, 
school nurse, and PLOW catechist.)