May 2 - 5th Sunday of Easter
(Acts 9:26-31; 1 Jn 3:18-24; Jn 15:1-8)
Saul (whose name as a Roman citizen was “Paul”) had some difficulty convincing apostles that he was now a believer in Jesus. They were understandably wary of him because of his previous efforts at persecuting the followers of “the way,” as it was called then. But Saul proved by his deeds, and with the help of his friend Barnabas, that he was a changed man. We too are called to show our love in deed and in truth, as John says in the second reading. To understand what sort of deeds this means, we need to look at verse 16 (just before our reading starts at verse 18), which says that because of love, Christ laid down his life for us, and we too must be willing to lay down our lives for our brothers. This kind of love is hard, and most of us will not be called upon to go to that extreme, but we should certainly not hesitate to endure the lesser sacrifices for our brothers.
In the allegory of the vine and the branches in the Gospel, being part of the vine is both a comfort and a challenge. It is a comfort knowing that we are connected to the source of all that is good through Jesus, and the consolation of the Holy Spirit. It also a challenge because we will need pruning from time to time. That is, we will need to cut off (or have cut off) the unproductive parts of our lives. This can be disconcerting, especially if it happens to us rather than at our initiative. But it is better than being cut off from the life-giving vine.