Welcoming the Holy
Here we invite you to take time for yourself in personal prayer. The following spiritual reflection offers words and images which we hope will evoke for you an experience of God.
By: Sister Kathy Weider
Opening Prayer
Gracious God, please open our minds and hearts to You and to Your Word, Jesus. May we listen with openness and accept the challenges that come with being Your followers, your disciples. Bless us, we pray. Amen.
Reflection
Have you ever gone for a haircut and felt embarrassed because it was cut too short? Have you ever felt like part of you has been lopped off – like a relationship, a job, or something you can’t do anymore?
The Gospel today is about pruning. Pruning hurts – but it helps! Why prune? Because when you do it, it produces more fruit. Have you noticed how much fuller pruned forsythia bushes are than those that grow wild? When pruned they produce many more bright, beautiful yellow flowers.
I don’t know about you, but I need to be pruned. I have branches that aren’t flowering, and no flowering means no fruit. My deepest desire is to love God with all my heart, and to live fully in loving service. But we all struggle with thoughts, words, and deeds that sap life out of us… Things like fear, wanting to control our lives, failing to accept others as they are, or not trusting people who are different from us.
In the first reading today, when Paul first arrived in Jerusalem the apostles feared him and would have nothing to do with him. They had good reason not to trust him because he was among those who were persecuting the followers of Jesus, like Stephen. They did not trust that he had truly been converted. Not until Barnabas, one of their own, checked him out and could verify Paul’s change of heart.
The second reading speaks of what gives evidence of true belief in Jesus Christ: keeping his commandment which is this – We should believe in the name of Jesus and love one another. We are told to love not just in word or speech, but in deed and truth.
That brings us back to pruning! This Gospel passage gives us the beautiful image of the vine and the branches. Jesus tells us, “I am the vine, and you are the branches.” Pruning takes place to help us bear more fruit. What fruit? What does God desire of us? LOVE! Ultimately, isn’t that what we desire as well?
Quiet
Closing Prayer
Please help us to trust you through whatever pruning or pain life brings us. Help us to realize that You can bring us blessings no matter what the circumstances of our lives. Strengthen our trust in You, and help us to love You and others in deed and in truth. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
