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 to a vine.

Being a suburban-bred animal I can’t pretend to understand the many levels of meaning that this picture communicates, but I love it nonetheless. Why? Because, of all the organic and agricultural symbols Jesus uses, this image more than most conveys the sense that my flourishing - no, even my muddling along in life - depends totally on Christ.

This is, of course, a tremendous gift. So how do we receive it well? What weighty demands must we meet to keep up our end of this bargain? Simply, we must remain in Jesus. 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. 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.

In the Peace of the Risen Christ,

Father Daniel

δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ