The Tale of Two Fruit Plants

 Deacon Kevin Gingras

April 28, 2024

Fifth Sunday of Easter

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042824.cfm

Acts 9:26-31      Ps 22:26-27, 28, 30, 31-32

1 Jn 3:18-24    Jn 15:1-8

This is the tale of two fruit plants.  In my yard I have an apple tree out back and a blueberry bush out front.  The apple trees I never prune and they are now a bit out of hand - they bear bad fruit or no fruit at this point.  The blueberry bush in the front, however, I prune the dead branches and the ones that bear no fruit each year.  Because I do this we get a good crop of blueberries from it yearly.  Faith and I will pick and eat them right from the bush, you can’t get fresher than that!

Now I know nothing about pruning grape vines but back in biblical times that must have been what people were familiar with as it is so deeply rooted in the Old and New Testaments.  We hear it in Isaiah 5, The Song of The Vineyard.  We hear it in today’s Gospel as well.  We also read of it in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. In Chapter 1108:

In every liturgical action the Holy Spirit is sent in order to bring us into communion with Christ and so to form his Body. The Holy Spirit is like the sap of the Father's vine which bears fruit on its branches. 

I love that analogy.  God the Father sent his only Son into the world for our salvation.  God the Son ascended into Heaven and sent us God the Holy Spirit to give us the sap of the vine of Christ.  The nourishment we need to keep our souls alive!

Now sometimes pruning hurts.  We heard of our friend Paul, also known as Saul in today’s first reading.  He needed a lot of pruning.  Jesus spoke to him in a flash of light knocking him to the ground.  Saul was blind for three days, he didn’t eat or drink at all until Ananias healed him. Even years after his pruning and conversion the Apostles didn’t yet trust him.  Barnabas had to vouch for him.

I guess this brings the homily to us.  What do we need to prune from our lives?  What are the things that take away our sight of Jesus and how can we remove them?  Don’t worry, Jesus will help us to do this pruning, just reach out to Him. How? 

• Pray, and if you can, spend time in adoration with Jesus, and ask him to point out the dead branches in your life that need to be removed.  

• Receive the sacrament of Confession. Tell Him, in Confession, the sins you want to be pruned. Sure, sometimes some of the bad branches will grow back, and when they do go back to Confession again! 

• Receive the Eucharist in a state of grace.  When we receive the Eucharist, Christ turns us into tabernacle.  

If we do these things, along with proclaiming Christ to others Jesus will be more present to us!  In my morning prayer on Saturday  one of the intercessory prayers was:

You are present to all who preach your Gospel, and give power to their words - make us today preachers of your resurrection by our holiness in life.

You may wonder if it will work, will people come back to church because of something I say to them? A few men from the Holy Family Men’s group had sent out those flyers from one of Fr. Matt’s Homilies entitled Why Come To Mass on Sunday. We sent them out to all of you, but you attend church so our hope was you would give them to somebody you know who doesn’t go to Mass. We also sent them to parishioners on our mailing list we hadn’t seen in a while. After the 4:00 PM Mass Saturday a gentleman asked me if I was part of the Men’s ministry and wanted me to thank the men for the flyer. He said it has been 10 years since he has been to Mass and the flyer inspired him to return. Praise God! He told me “The lost sheep has been found’!

Today, upon our dismissal from Mass, our prayer should be that we go forth announcing the Gospel to the world just like St. Paul who was one of the greatest missionaries the Church has ever seen.

Mother Angelica tells us:

The Lord God has no one else but you.  You’d better get off your lead bottoms and go out there and change this pagan world!

Let's Go, What Are We Waiting For

Kevin Gingras

December 20, 2020 - 4th Sunday of Advent

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122020.cfm

The other day, I was at a red light, trying to cross Route 44 to get to Church.  There were two cars in front of me and the light turned green - and nobody moved.  Now, I’m not known for the virtue of patience.  My first mildly aggravated thought was “LET’S GO - WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR!?”  Then, when my agitation subsided, I thought, “that’s a good question to ponder during Advent”, especially for today, the last Sunday of Advent.  

What are we waiting for?  Are we waiting for that perfect gift to arrive from Amazon that we got for Aunt Bethany and Uncle Lewis?  Are we waiting for time to finish decorating?  Are we waiting to be finished wrapping presents? Are we waiting to go get your ingredients for that perfect Christmas dinner? [Not that I’ve ever experienced one of those at home!]  I know that most kids, and some adults too are waiting for PRESENTS!

Christmas is just five days away!  Are we ready for Christmas?  If not - LET’S GO - WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR!?

Was Mary was ready when the angel appeared to her and proclaimed:

Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.  He will be great and will be called Son of the Highest.

Mary didn’t need to be told LET’S GO - WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR.  Mary simply replied:

Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.  May it be done to me according to your word

Mary was ready for that first Christmas, even when things didn’t work out exactly as she had planned.  All her preparations revolved around her son and God’s son Jesus.  There is no better way to prepare than to make Jesus our primary focus right now.  

Over 2,022 years ago, this is what a lot of people were waiting for, a savior, Jesus, the Christ.  We hear a preview of what they were waiting for in today’s first reading from Samuel:

And when your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins, and I will make his kingdom firm. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me; your throne shall stand firm forever.'

Paul is trying to explain this to the Romans as he writes to them:

...according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret for long ages but now manifested through the prophetic writings and, according to the command of the eternal God, made known to all nations to bring about the obedience of faith, to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ.

There’s the key for us - all of this was “through Jesus Christ”.  Some of the Jews missed this even though it was right under their noses.  

With all of our hectic preparations are we missing it too? If that is true for us then, LET’S GO, WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR? We shouldn’t miss who Jesus is and even though this Advent season is almost over it isn’t too late to take some quiet time with Jesus. We are given extra Advent time this year my friends, use it wisely. Spend it in Adoration if you can.  If not, spend some quiet time at home, tell Alexa to stop playing Bing Crosby Christmas playlist, turn off the Hallmark channel, turn down the lights, silence your phones, turn on the Christmas tree and spend some time in prayer pondering Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, the Holy Family, after whom are Church is so aptly named.  

If it helps read the Gospel of Luke, Chapters 1 through 3 or Matthew, Chapters 1 and 2.  Pay close attention to the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew.  Remember, Matthew was writing in Hebrew for a Jewish-Christian audience and Luke was writing for a Greek-speaking audience of Gentiles and Jews.  This is why the genealogies are different, they were for different audiences but either way, they are there to illustrate that Jesus was the savior promised in the Old Testament from the very beginning.  He’s our savior today as well.

Sure, this Christmas probably won’t be like any other we have experienced in our lifetime but try and count that as a blessing and not a curse.  Try to find that silver lining. Remember what Paul told the Romans:

We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose

Usually, I end with a quote from a Saint but this time I will leave you with this quote from our very own Bishop of Fall River - Bishop da Cunha, who recently said:

But maybe because there will be less [family holiday gatherings] there will be more celebrating what Christmas is about. “That could be a source of joy and hope and peace for all of us.