V8s FOR VOCATIONS: The Diocese of Gallup annual car raffle is raffling a 429 Cobra Jet Engine and 4 speed racing transmission which comes in the original Competition green paint. Only 1600 were produced. Raffle tickets are on sale now and are $25.00 each. Tickets are available online at www.v8sforvocations.org or by calling the Diocese @ 505 726-8295. Ushers are handing out postcards with more details. All proceeds support seminarians as Future Priests to the Diocese of Gallup.

NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER: Come celebrate the National Day of Prayer by gathering at the Eagar Town Hall Flagpole on Thursday, May 6th at 5:30pm. Bring your family and pray for our nation and the community. Sponsored by the RV Coalition for Family Values.

BABY BOTTLE DRIVE: Living Hope Centers will be holding the baby bottle drive starting May 9^th and running through June 20^th, to help raise funds needed for their Pro-Life Ministries in the Round Valley/White Mountains area. Please pick up a bottle from Monica B. after church to fill with spare coins, cash or checks and return it to Mass on June 20^th. Or you can contact Monica B. at 928 333-5539 to participate.

Page 3.

THE FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER: YEAR B.

(ACTS 9:26-31, 1JN. 3:18-24, JN. 15:1-8)

THEME: JESUS THE TRUE VINE

Introduction: Jesus chooses the image of vine to reveal his mission on earth. First and foremost, the people of Israel were referred to as vine and vineyard respectively (Ps. 80:8-9; Isaiah 5:7). God expected choice fruits from his vineyard but only found wickedness, injustice and oppression. When Israel as a vineyard failed to bear good fruit, she lost her true identity. Hence, Jesus, who came to do the will of God, announces himself as the true vine. As the only true vine, he calls us to remain in him as his branches, and so alludes to his mystical body the church. He is the head, we the members. The vine imagery also evokes the sense of the Cross as well as the Eucharist. As vine yields its wine when subjected to the winepress, so would Jesus shed his blood for our drink through the winepress of Calvary.

The True Vine: Though Israel is a vine, she did not fulfill the terms of the covenant. As a result, she did not qualify to be the true vine. Christ as one who fulfilled to the utmost, the will of his Father, becomes the true vine. The real spiritual vocation of Israel as a vine was to bear the fruit of love and social justice. Unfortunately, the reverse was the case. Hence: “The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are the vines he delighted in. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress” (Is 5:7).

Jesus, therefore, came to reverse the trend. In his first miracle at a wedding feast at Cana in Galilee he reveals the power by which natural vine transforms mere rain water into wine in its grapes. By changing water into wine, he announces himself the true vine; and natural vine the actual shadow of his substance. At the last supper, he offered to the church the best wine of his nuptial banquet. As it was said of the bridegroom of Cana that he kept the best wine till the last hour, so did Jesus, the true bridegroom of the church, serve the best wine of the Eucharist at the very last supper.

A Call to Union: When Jesus the true Vine calls us to abide in him as branches; he wishes to bring us to union with him. A branch can only remain a branch if it abides in the mother plant. We remain one with the master by uniting our wills to his own will. This union of will is expressed when we love only what he loves and abhor those things he abhors. When this is achieved, the human will and that of the divine master becomes one. This is the essence of union.

St. Teresa of Avila, in the interior Castle, likens this relationship to the light of a candle on a bright noonday. Though the candle generates light, its light so co-mingles with, and is absorbed into the light of the sun that the two become one, since no difference is observed. Again, she likens it to a cup of water that is poured into an ocean; in which case the two become one; and the existing union becomes inseparable. So it is with a soul that abides in the Lord. They so become one that the soul can say with St. Paul “l live, no longer I but Christ is living in me” (Gal. 2:20).

Pope Benedict XVI emphasizes this desire to be united with the human race as what informed Jesus’ choice to become the vine. Becoming the vine is Christ’s method for remaining one with his own, “with all the scattered children of God whom he has come to gather. The vine is a Christological title that as such embodies a whole ecclesiology” (Jesus of Nazareth260). He assumed the vine image to gather humans to himself as his branches. It is in the church that we answer the call be branches of the true vine. Jesus is the head of the body, the church, and we are members of this body (cf. Col. 1:18). This proves that the gift of God is irrevocable. Though Israel lost her call to be the true vine, God has restored it through the incarnation of his son. In his own body, he embraces all of us, making us one body and one spirit with him. Though, like Israel we have not borne good fruits, Jesus shares his righteousness with us. In him and through him we are acceptable to God the Father.

Call to Fecundity: Some trees can serve a lumbering or other secondary purpose, if they fail to bear fruit. It is not so with the vine (cf. Ezekiel 15:3-5). It is useless if it fails to bear fruit. Again, no tree consumes its own fruit. Instead, it is for generous supply to wildlife and humans. As branches of the true vine, we do not produce fruits for ourselves but for the good of others. Based on the above fact, we are called to measure our fruitfulness against the background of our goodness toward those around us and the society at large.

The true vine produces wine which gladdens the heart (cf. Judges 9:13; Ps. 104:15). It is our vocation to please God and add meaning to the lives of those around us. Our presence should be a source of joy to others. When on the contrary we embitter the lives of others, it means we are no longer one with the true vine. Such persons are referred to as the vine of Sodom. Their grapes are grapes of gall, their cluster bitter (Deut. 32:32). This is true of one from whom others have bitter experiences.

Divine Pruning: God the father is the vine dresser. He prunes any branch of the vine to make it bear more fruit. This can be likened to a process of purification to which God subjects those that belong to him. God, like a careful husbandman, cares for the vine by cutting off dead branches that can breed disease and insects. Likewise, in his fatherly care for us, he comes to complement our effort. Seeing how much we have tried to purify ourselves of sin, and knowing that our effort alone is not enough, he intervenes with his strong but paternal hand. He uproots from us the deep-seated remnants of old life, habitual imperfection and irregular affections of the soul which are disagreeable with demands of our union with Christ. This is painful but necessary for spiritual fecundity. It explains why the righteous experience affliction in life.

In conclusion, our collective vocation is to bear fruit, fruits of the spirit. St. Paul helps us to know what sort of fruits God demands from us as branches of the true vine: “the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23). The strength to produce such fruits comes by abiding in the Lord