Without me you can do nothing

23 JULY (Jn 15,1-8)

In the Old Testament it is God who plants a vineyard. there is only one relationship of Justice, which is all in the truth of the vineyard, between Him and his plantation. The vineyard is a true vineyard, if it produces good fruit. But it is the vineyard that must produce them. God must only gather them at the right time. God plants, the vineyard produces and the Lord gathers. However, His vineyard has degenerated. It does not produce fruit according to its truth and truest essence.

Let me now sing of my friend, my friend’s song concerning his vineyard. My friend had a vineyard on a fertile hillside; He spaded it, cleared it of stones, and planted the choicest vines; Within it he built a watchtower, and hewed out a wine press. Then he looked for the crop of grapes, but what it yielded was wild grapes. Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard: What more was there to do for my vineyard that I had not done? Why, when I looked for the crop of grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes? Now, I will let you know what I mean to do to my vineyard: Take away its hedge, give it to grazing, break through its wall, let it be trampled! Yes, I will make it a ruin: it shall not be pruned or hoed, but overgrown with thorns and briers; I will command the clouds not to send rain upon it. The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his cherished plant; He looked for judgment, but see, bloodshed! for justice, but hark, the outcry! Woe to you who join house to house, who connect field with field, Till no room remains, and you are left to dwell alone in the midst of the land! In my hearing the Lord of hosts has sworn: Many houses shall be in ruins, large ones and fine, with no one to live in them. Ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one liquid measure, And a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah. Woe to those who demand strong drink as soon as they rise in the morning, And linger into the night while wine inflames them! With harp and lyre, timbrel and flute, they feast on wine; But what the LORD does, they regard not, the work of his hands they see not. Therefore my people go into exile, because they do not understand; Their nobles die of hunger, and their masses are parched with thirst. Therefore the nether world enlarges its throat and opens its maw without limit; Down go their nobility and their masses, their throngs and their revelry. Men shall be abased, each one brought low, and the eyes of the haughty lowered, But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted by his judgment, and God the Holy shall be shown holy by his justice. Woe to those who tug at guilt with cords of perversity, and at sin as if with cart ropes! (Cf. Is 5,1-30).

With Jesus, everything changes. There will no longer be an extrinsic relationship of mere justice between him and the vineyard. There will not even be a vineyard anymore. There will only be one true vine, and all must be branches of this true vine. As the divine nature is one and the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are branches of this one nature and it produces fruit by drawing and giving sap to each other, so it is true of all the disciples of Jesus. They are one body, they are the body of Christ, and in this body they all draw real life from Christ, and they communicate each other this drawn real life. This is the great mystery of communion.

“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. You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.

Never will God leave this true vine unkempt and abandoned to itself. He will take care and will prune it. He will cut the branches that do not produce. He will always watch over it so that it does not get lost in its truth. The disciple of Jesus is not the vineyard, he is a branch. If he is a branch, he must always remain attached to the vine, if he wants to produce fruits of truth, justice, charity and holiness. He draws the sap from Christ and transforms it into a fruit of great love. Should he move away from Jesus Christ, he must know that he dries up for the fire.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints make us be true branches in Jesus.