The Gospel of St. John, in my humble opinion, offers one of the most important messages you will hear in the entire Bible. If the Catholic world fully embraced this message, the world would be set ablaze.
Sadly, though, we do not fully embrace it, due to our pride. We think to ourselves, I know better. To address this claim very abruptly: No, you do not! Jesus said, “I am the vine”; He did not say, “You are the vine.”
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 everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit. You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned.”
I have been a practicing Catholic for over thirty years, and over the course of that time I’ve learned a few things. One of which, because I have seen it with my own two eyes, is that when religious orders adhere strictly to the teachings of the Church, as they are written—if they live lives of sacrifice, if they develop deep interior lives through hours of daily prayer—then they bear a tremendous amount of fruit for the Kingdom of God. The formula works without exception.
I have seen this with many religious orders. To name three: the Missionaries of Charity, the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, and the Sisters of Life.
Conversely, religious orders that have “relaxed” lifestyles (to put it charitably) get no vocations and die out. Why is that?
Jesus tells us why in this very gospel.
So then the question becomes: if that formula works for religious orders, why would it not work for lay Catholics, bishops, and diocesan priests?
The problem is not with Church teaching. The problem is that large segments of Baptized Catholics do not fully embrace that teaching. We lack the courage to! We do not fully bend our wills to God. And because of that, we do not bear the fruit that Jesus promises we would bear.
This needs to change. Being Catholic is like painting by numbers. All the teachings of the Church are written down—all we have to do is follow them! Just read what is on the paper. Easy, right?
What needs to stop is all our excuses. No one has a “better idea” than Jesus Christ and the fullness of Truth contained in the teachings of the Catholic Church. It’s not pastoral to alter doctrine. It’s not merciful to conveniently leave out segments of doctrine.
Remain in me, as I remain in you, says the Lord.
As a married man for twelve years, my wife and I have never used contraception. We have five children on earth and lost three to miscarriages. I can confidently say that our marriage is stronger today than it was on the day of our wedding. Why is that? Because our marriage is sacramental, which means that God Himself animates it because we allow Him into our marriage. God is the center of our marriage and of our individual lives. This is the “secret” to a good marriage.
God gave mankind marriage and made it a sacrament. To view it any other way is a mistake. Why? Because to have a good marriage takes work…and it takes God’s grace. When we think we “know better,” marriages fall apart. Without grace, selfishness creeps in, and it destroys the marital bond.
Our need for grace in marriage is why it is one of the seven sacraments instituted by Christ and entrusted to His Church. Marriage is a vocation, which leads a man and a woman to God by the dying to self through the service of each other and their children.
God’s way works. You don’t have to take my word for it. Just look at the divorce numbers for couples in secular marriages.
Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit.
This is the key to everything we do as Catholics, no matter what state of life we are called to—whether bishop, priest, deacon, married, or single. We are not the vine, which means we do not make the rules. Catholics who fully digest this teaching set the world on fire.
Photo by Flor Saurina on Unsplash
