Meditation Of His Beatitude Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa: V Sunday of Easter B

Below you can find the Meditation of His Beatitude Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, for V Sunday of Easter B, Sunday 28 April 2024.

Jn 15:1-8

Last Sunday the Word brought us across the parable of the Good Shepherd: we saw that the Shepherd is the one who cares so much for the members of his flock to the point of laying down his life for theirs.

We also saw that this life is saved as soon as it can get out of the fence in which sin had enclosed it, to go out to others, to the brothers and sisters, and to form with them one flock.

In today's Gospel passage (John 15:1-8), Jesus uses another image, that of the vine grower, the vineyard, and the branches.

What strikes one upon first hearing it is the term "fruit," a term that recurs five times (Jn 15:2,4,5,8), and this frequency highlights its importance: the farmer cares for the vineyard and knows how to prune it, but the purpose of this care is not so much the well-being of the plant as the fruit it is called to bear.

Not only that. But it is the fruit that will judge the actual rooting of the branches in the vine: if the fruit is not there, if the vine is barren, then it means that the branch is not attached to the vine, it means that the sap is not flowing.

It seems to me that the Gospel today touches on a profound dimension of our lives: for we all desire that our lives are not barren, but they bear fruit; we desire that our lives have meaning, have substance, that our lives do not end with us.

Well, when and how does this happen? And also: when and how does it not happen?

One key could be this: it is not only we who desire a beautiful and fruitful life. Along with us, and even before us, it is God himself who desires it.

God desires a good life for us, just as every father desires it for his children.

But it is not enough to desire it: life, to bear fruit, needs certain conditions, and help, which makes growth and fruitfulness possible.

And of these elements, the Gospel emphasizes some of them.

The first element is the one that revolves around the term "remain": a branch cannot bear fruit on its own, without a vineyard to make it live.

The first condition for a full life is to know that this life is not ours, that it is given to us, and we can only welcome it. The Christian life is not a growing up to the point of becoming independent, to the point of thinking we can make it on our own, without needing the help of others, the help of God.

It is exactly the opposite: the Christian life grows as much as we welcome God's life, as much as we are conscious that without Him, we can do nothing (Jn. 15:5).

It is then a matter of remaining in a life greater than ourselves, in the life of God.

And for this to happen, the way is to receive the Word, to remain in listening: for Jesus says that we remain in Him as much as His words remain in us (Jn 15:7). If His Word is important and precious to us, like the word of a loved one, if we trust it, if we give it credibility, then we become one with Him: we have the same way of thinking, of seeing, of judging life.

Jesus adds that if we remain in Him, we can ask for anything (Jn 15:7). What does this mean?…

This Meditation was originally publsihed on the website of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Please click here to read the full text.