Readings:
John 15: 1-8
from Pope St. John Paul II:
Christifidelis Laici, 18
Novo Millennio Ineunte, 43
Reflection:
I'm the type of guy who tends to fall into the idea that I can be self-efficient enough to be able to take care of myself on my own without requiring the help of others. In other words, I attempt at thriving apart from others. This also translates to attempting to do things apart from God's help and guidance. But the Lord has definitely shown me over the years, even especially in recent times, that apart from Him, I miserably fail. I fail because I am not truly in communion with Him and His will.
It was through my novice study of Pope St. John Paul II's Theology of the Body that I began to understand the Holy Trinity as a communion of love. You know, the Father loves the Son in a profound exchange of love, the Son loves the Father in a profound exchange of love, and that love between them is so strong and profound it results in a third, the Holy Spirit.
From yesterday's reflection, I know I am made in His image. I was created to be in communion with God. Likewise, I'm created to be in communion with others as well because we're part of the Mystical Body of Christ. He is the vine, and we are the branches. He is the head, we are His body.
I can easily remove myself from being part of the vine, His body, through rebelling against Him. In today's reading, He explains that only those that abide in him bear much fruit. If I rebel against Him, I'm effectively cutting my own self off. In sin, I become my own branch apart from the vine and will wither and die.
But if I'm in communion with Him, then I will bear much fruit. I will thrive because I'm being who I'm created to be and that is to abide in Him out of love for Him. And only good things can come from abiding in Him and bearing much fruit. It's like following that chain combo in Candy Crush or something where your score gets super multiplied.
So by being in communion with Him, I am a branch attached to Him as the vine. But I'm not the only branch. My brothers and sisters are also branches. And because they are branches to the same vine, I need to have the ability to see them as such. They are a part of me too. They are children of God, too. They deserved to be loved too. And I'm grateful for them as gifts for me, too.
Response:
Striving for communion with Jesus. But also Mary as well, because she had a very profound sense of communion with Jesus when she carried Him in her very womb.
At work tomorrow, I'll strive to see each person as a "gift" for me because they too are part of the Mystical Body of Christ.
Pope St. John Paul II said
A living and life-giving communion which Christians no longer belong to themselves but are the Lord's very own, as the branches are with the vine. (Christifidelis Laici, 18).
Totus tuus,
- JD
Mystical Body of Christ // Copiosa
