28/04/2024

Fifth Sunday of Easter

"I am the vine, you are the branches"

We need to stay connected - and allow ourselves to be pruned. Then we can bear great fruit - and eventually our grapes, perhaps - be turned into wine: life in Paradise. 

Connected to Jesus in our prayer-life, our communities, including our family, the Church’s liturgies – the sacraments of reconciliation and Eucharist.

Ask yourself, how many hours a week do I dedicate to reading the New Testament and thinking about it; praying?

How about trying to bring into your life what is called lectio divina ? 

With its four R steps:  Read, Reflect, Respond in prayer, and Rest in silence.

Read a saying or an action scene of Jesus. Reflect on what it must have been like to have been there. Were there vines where he pronounced these worlds? Was he siting or standing?   Respond to Jesus about what it means to you – how it makes your feel. Then rest in silence and allow that experience to percolate through your mind and heart.

You can do this alone or with a few friends – including, of course, your family.

Remember how in its first document –  Sacrosanctum Concilium  on Liturgy, published in 1963 - Vatican II made it clear  that at Mass Christ is present in four distinct ways: through the Word, the congregation, the minister – priest or bishop , and the Eucharist.

Through each of these we, the branches, can find spiritual nourishment. For me, Christ is clearly  in the congregation, and thus the Klatsch. Thank God.