Today Jesus presents himself as the vine, the true vine. Those among us who grew trees and vines, know what it is to prune them. When we prune them it does not seem to be good for the trees, because you will see a bit of liquid coming out if the side that we have pruned. They will want to heal very fast so that they will sprout new branches.
So also does Christ want to prune us. He tells us we are the branches, his Father the vine grower. If we must bear precious fruits we must allow ourselves to be pruned. Those that do not bear good fruit will be pruned away and be burned. Those that bear good fruit will be dressed very well so that they may bear bigger and juicy fruit. So the Church as the Bride of Christ, makes regulations for all of us. Some of those regulations are meant to prune us, to help us to grow in our faith. Sometimes they are disturbing. And yet we know that if we do not follow those regulations we cannot bear much fruit. We cannot be credible witnesses to Christ in the world.