This Sunday's Gospel is so rich that I would like to invite you to use it during this week in your personal prayer. Let the Lord speak to you in these words that we have heard today, and without hurry, meditate on what Christ wishes to say to you, the message that is uniquely for you.
When we measure ourselves by the Word of God and pray according to the method of lectio divina, we must first try to answer the following question: what does the sacred text itself say here? In doing so, we try to discover the truth of what God has revealed to us. But this is only the beginning of a conversation with the Lord that must become even more personal. Indeed, when an answer has been given to the first question, we must then ask ourselves a second question: "Well, I know what Holy Scripture says here, but what is the Lord trying to say to me?"
That "to me" is an act of faith in the fact that God not only wants to communicate with us, in the plural, but with me, in my singularity, in the life I have now. He wants to illuminate the situations I have to face at this moment, because his Word is not past, but present, not yesterday, but today. It is not only the history of something that came about, but the meaning of what is happening to me now.
This "to me" also means that I must give God space, time and silence, because if I do not create the conditions necessary for listening, I will not be able to receive his Word. He speaks to me today, and I can only understand what he wants to say to me if I make his word my own in quiet and prayerful meditation.
So, I ask you not only to listen today at Mass, but to meditate later at home. The Word of God can only transform the life of those who ponder it in their hearts, as Mary did. This is the what the women who are participating in Mission Ecce Ancilla Domini are experiencing, and they encourage us with their example to do the same: to make time every day for mental prayer.
YOU CAN READ A BEAUTIFUL LECTIO DIVINA BY POPE BENEDICT XVI ON TODAY'S GOSPEL BY CLICKING HERE.
So as not to go on too long, let me share with you just one idea. The Word of God spoke to us today about the commandments. In the second reading, St. John tells us, "Those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them." It might seem that we must first keep the commandments and only after our obedience would God remain in us. However, it is St. John himself who in today's Gospel, offers us the right perspective. Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. The branch that is not united to the vine is dead and cannot bear fruit. What a beautiful and… awesome image! That is to say, the first thing is union with Christ who then communicates his very life to us. The fruit of holiness comes only later. If we lack this union, because we have allowed ourselves to be trapped by sin, or by the noise of the world, or because we do not follow the teaching of our Mother the Church with joy and trust, or because we have moved our friendship with Christ to second place in our lives, we are - perhaps without knowing it - dead. Dead to the life that Christ gives us. Dead to the life of grace. Branches that will be thrown into the fire to burn.
As the Catechism beautifully affirms (1108), if Christ is the vine, and the Father is the vinedresser, the Holy Spirit is the sap that gives life. Therefore, let us wait in great anticipation and in an attitude of prayer and penance for the gift that will come upon us at Pentecost: the gift that will make us courageous witnesses of Christ in the world (as we have so admirably seen in the example of St. Paul in today's first reading) and shine in the midst of the darkness that surrounds us.
"By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”
Dear brothers and sisters, in meditative listening to his Word may we enter into daily dialogue with our God who desires to have a relationship with us and journey at our side. Through simple fidelity to our Catholic faith and in frequent reception of the Sacraments may we allow the life of Christ to bear abundant fruit in us. With Mary, in Mary, and like Mary, may we always receive the Word that is Jesus and share it with our brothers and sisters for the salvation of the world.
