Jesus said to his disciples: “I am the true vine, and my Father is
the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not
bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more
fruit. You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to
you.” John 15:1–3
Pruning a vine is an important part of helping it to grow and
produce not only more fruit but the best fruit. If left unpruned, a
grape vine will eventually produce less fruit and poorer quality
fruit. Good pruning helps to direct the nourishment of the vine to
the new buds that are most fruitful.
Jesus’ teaching above uses the imagery of pruning a vine to help us
understand that faith must lead to charity. First, Jesus says that
He is the “true vine.” He is the only source of the nourishment we
need for the new life of grace. He is the only way to Heaven and
salvation. Knowing our Lord and being attached to Him firmly is
faith. Second, our Lord says that He takes away every branch that
does not bear fruit. This indicates that faith without the good
fruit of charity is dead and is like a branch on a vine that
produces nothing. Third, when Jesus finds a branch that bears good
fruit, he doesn’t leave it alone. Instead, He prunes it with loving
attention so that “it bears more fruit.”
To apply these teachings to your own life, begin by looking at your
faith as if it were a branch firmly attached to a vine. Do you
believe all that God has spoken through His holy Word? It is useful
to regularly examine your conscience in regard to your faith. Since
faith is the first step in the spiritual life, it must remain
firmly grounded in the Truth God has revealed. This means we must
regularly study the Word of God as it is revealed through the
Scriptures and the catechetical teachings of the Church, and assent
to those teachings with all our mind.
Next, after affirming your faith in all that God has spoken through
the Scriptures and the Church, try to examine your charity. Do you
see concrete acts of love in your life that result from your faith?
In other words, we can “love” many things in a purely emotional
sort of way. But charity is based on faith, not on how we feel.
Charity is the fruit of faith. What acts of charity can you point
to in your life? What have you sensed God calling you to do in a
selfless and sacrificial way? Have you done it?
Finally, when you discover the ways that charity is alive within
you, know that God will focus His pruning there. Pruning can be
painful. It will require sacrifice, patience in the face of trial,
overcoming selfishness, and doing things you don’t feel like doing.
In fact, sometimes God even makes charitable acts seem unpleasant
as a way of pruning your motivations and making them more pure,
based more on faith than on emotion. But this is good.
Reflect, today, upon this holy imagery from Jesus. It’s a lesson
from nature that reveals the supernatural life of grace at work.
Don’t be deterred by the pruning God wants to do. Embrace suffering
with love, respond to injustice with forgiveness, offer mercy when
you don’t feel like it, and seek to serve selflessly those who seem
undeserving. Doing so will prune you so that God will be able to
build up His Kingdom in glorious ways through you.
Jesus, most glorious Vine, You and You alone are the source of
all nourishment in life. From You all good things come. Help me to
have a firm faith in You and all that You have revealed, so that
this faith will bud forth and bring about an abundance of good
fruit for the glorious building up of Your Kingdom. Jesus, I trust
in You.
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