Our
readings today are about unity and community. Jesus
makes it very clear that a disciple of
his must remain entirely and wholly attached to him like a branch on a vine.
A branch cannot live apart from the vine;
and even if it could, its fruit would be of a strange variety – being
dissociated from the species of which it is meant to be a part. And so, we must
remain in Christ so that our fruit is
godly fruit, our works are meritorious for our salvation, and our loving is
pure and self-sacrificial. There are many in this day and age who are
semi-rooted to the vine, or so they think; but the truth is either you are or
you aren’t connected to it: either you have the Christ-life flowing through
your spiritual veins or the world’s: and if it is the worlds’ then it can never
be entirely true, beautiful or just!
In
the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Paul
and Barnabas in order to stay rooted on
the vine – which is the Mystical Body
of Christ, the Church, as it was just beginning to take form in the world –
decide to go to Jerusalem to consult with
the apostles and presbyters there about the matter of circumcision of Gentile
converts. They did not simply act on their own, but wanted to find out – by
the working of the Holy Spirit – in consultation with the others who received
the same Spirit at their ordinations – what is to be held or not held in this
particular case in the day to day operations of the Church. This is how the
Church was set up on Pentecost – it would be guided and informed by the Spirit
– and this is how it still operates today. The community is protected, the
gathering of personally united persons is guaranteed freedom from error, when
acting collegially, and together with the Successor of Peter as their head.
And so today, we thank God for
joining us to him, for remaining with us and for joining us to one another in a
communion of holiness, fraternity and peace. For, we may always now together go to the house of the Lord, and give him thanks
and praise! Amen! Alleluia!
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