5th Sunday of Easter (Year B) - 28 April
28th April 2024
“The secret of spiritual fruitfulness is union with God, union that is realised above all in the Eucharist.” - Pope Benedict XVI
A reflection on today's Gospel by the Venerable Archbishop Fulton J Sheen:
"The figure of the vine He [Christ] used was a very familiar one in the Old Testament. Israel was called a vine, the vine that was brought out of Egypt; Isaiah spoke of God as having planted that chosen vine. Jeremiah and Osee bemoaned and complained that it was not bringing forth fruit. As Our Blessed Lord, in contrast to the manna that was given by Moses, called Himself the ‘True Bread’ as in contrast to the brilliant lights of the Feast of the Tabernacles, He called Himself the ‘True Light’ as in contrast to the temple built by hands, He called Himself the ‘Temple of God,’ so now in contrast to the vine of Israel, He said: I am the true vine, and it is My Father Who tends it. (John 15:1)
"This unity between Himself and His followers of the new Israel would be like the unity between the vine and the branches; the same sap or grace that flowed through Him will flow through them: I am the vine, you are its branches; If a man lives on in Me, and I in him, then he will yield abundant fruit; Separated from Me, you have no power to do anything. (John 15:5)
"Separated from Him, a man is no better than a branch separated from a vine, dry and dead. The branch may bear clusters, but it does not produce them; He alone produces them. As He went to His death, He said that He lived, and they would live in Him. He saw beyond the Cross and affirmed that their vitality and energy would come from Him, and the relationship between them would be organic, not mechanical. He saw those who professed to be united outwardly to Him, but who nevertheless would be inwardly separated from Him; others He saw who would need a further purification by His Father through a Cross, which He speaks of in terms of a knife pruning and cutting: The branch that yields no fruit in Me, He cuts away; the branch that does yield fruit, He trims clean, so that it may yield more fruit. (John 15:2)
"The ideal of the new community is holiness, the One Who holds the knife is His Heavenly Father. The object of the pruning is not the chastisement, but chastening and perfection—except in the case of those who are useless; these are excommunicated from the vine. When Our Lord first called the Apostles, He reminded them of all they must suffer for His sake. As He went to the Cross, He gave them a new understanding of His previous message that they should take up the Cross daily and follow Him. Unity with Him would come not merely from knowing His teaching, but principally from the cultivation of the Divine within them through the pruning of all that was ungodly."
(Life of Christ)
Prayer in Honour of the Holy Eucharist
Sweetest Jesus, Body and Blood most Holy, be the delight and pleasure of my soul, my strength and salvation in all temptations, my joy and peace in every trial, my light and guide in every word and deed, and my final protection in death. Amen. 🙏💐💖
Receiving The Holy Eucharist
Frequently go to the fountain of grace and divine mercy - the fountain of goodness and all purity - where you can be cured of your passions and vices. The devil is aware of the great benefit and remedy for sin contained in Holy Communion, and tries by every ruse and occasion he can to withdraw and prevent faithful souls from it.
Therefore, some people experience the worst attacks and deceits of this fiend when they are preparing to receive Holy Communion. As Job tells us: the evil spirit comes among the children of God, to disturb them with his usual malice, or to frighten and confuse them, so that he may, through his crafty suggestions, lessen their devotion or destroy their faith; this is to make them either abandon Holy Communion, or approach with little fervour.
You must completely ignore his wiles - however foul and abominable; turn all his filthy suggestions back upon him. Satan must be treated with utter scorn and contempt. Never refrain from Holy Communion because of his attacks and the disturbances he arouses. Do not give up going to Holy Communion for every little disturbance; but go promptly to confession, and freely forgive others any offence against you. If you are the offender, humbly ask pardon, and God will freely forgive you.
What good does it do you to delay your confession or refusing going to Holy Communion? The sooner you rouse yourself, spit out the poison and take the remedy, the sooner you will feel better than if you had delayed doing so.
When people are prevented legitimately from receiving Holy Communion if they still keep their good and pious intention to do so, they will not be deprived of the blessings it brings them. Every devout person may make a spiritual Communion with our Lord - every day and every hour - without any prohibition, and will profit greatly from this.
Many people are seriously tempted concerning faith in the Blessed Sacrament through no fault of their own; but rather this is to be blamed on the devil. Do not worry about it, nor argue with your thoughts, and do not answer doubts suggested by the devil. Instead, put your faith in the words of God, believe His Saints and Prophets, and the wicked enemy will soon leave you alone.
Go forward, therefore, in simple and unwavering faith, and approach this Sacrament with humble reverence. Whatever you are unable to understand, confidently entrust to Almighty God. God never deceives you; but those who trust too much in self are deceived. God walks with the simple, makes Himself known to the humble, and gives understanding to the poor in spirit. He reveals His meaning to the clean of heart, but He hides His grace from the proud and curious. Human reason is weak and easily deceived; but true faith cannot be deceived. All reason and natural inquiry must follow faith, never precede or question it. For in this most holy and exalted Sacrament, faith and love are uppermost and work in hidden ways.
(The Imitation of Christ by Thomas á Kempis)