Life on the Vine
Easter's fifth Sunday
Announcements for May 1, 2021:
Our Lady of Mount Carmel School 8th-grade students will be hosting a flower sale next weekend after Masses. Order forms are available in this weekend’s bulletin.
In-person & Outdoors! Find out more about OLMC School's May 6th Open House by clicking here.
We've made major improvements to our Listen Everywhere system. If you need help hearing what's going on during Mass, check out our Pew Resources.
I have reshuffled some things on the website, but you can still find all of our announcements in our Parishioner Portal.
Please be in touch with me if you need anything at all, or if you'd like to share any questions or concerns.
Dear Saints,
In our Gospel passage this week, we get one of my favorite images for our lives as Christians. Jesus likens our relationship to him as branches on a vine.
Being a suburban-bred animal I'm sure I miss parts of what this picture language communicates, but I love it nonetheless. Why? Because, of all the organic and agricultural symbols Jesus uses, this image best conveys the sense that my flourishing - no, even my muddling along in life - depends totally on Christ.
This is an immeasurable, unmerited gift. We cannot earn this intimate connection to Jesus, to God's own life of love.
So, what weighty demands must we meet to keep up our end of this bargain? What does life on the Vine look like? Straightforwardly, Jesus says we must remain in him: Seeing Jesus as the center and source of our life, we are to entrust ourselves to him and give ourselves over to his plan for our life, our day, our every moment.
What is that plan other than to embody the love that he pours into our hearts, to make flesh the life we draw from him as branches on the vine. It’s ours to go the way of self-gift, the way that Jesus pioneered and now makes possible for us as we trust and follow him.
I love you, my friends, and I look forward to sharing the rest of the story with you in person!
In the Peace of the Risen Christ,
Father Daniel
δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ
Preparing for Mass?
Check out this weekend's readings:
Fifth Sunday of Easter
Christ the True Vine
Athens, 16th Century