5th Sunday of Easter 2021 - Vine and Branches

 A few months ago, back in Advent, I reflected upon the magnificent depiction of the Jesse Tree on our parish ceiling. Beginning above the sanctuary, we see Jesse the father of King David, with the shoot coming forth from his side. Between each of the rafters are the generations of Jesse, through David and Solomon, all the way to the one about whom the prophets foretold, the one who would be king of kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus the Savior, who is depicted blessing us as we come into Church and as we go out of Church.

If we look above the altar, we see, sort of connected to the Jesse Tree, vine branches, swirling and twirling amidst the domed apse of the sanctuary. Branches, vine branches. When I was made pastor here, those vine branches looked so familiar to me, like I’d seen them before. And when I realized what they reminded me of, it all made sense. The vines and branches of our sanctuary apse are modeled after a very famous church in Rome, one of the most ancient churches in the world, the minor basilica of San Clemente, named after the first century Pope, Pope St. Clement I who was martyred around the year 99 during the persecution of the Emperor Trajan. St. Clement is mentioned in the first Eucharistic prayer, which we’ll use today.

Fr. Hanharan, 2nd pastor of St. Ignatius, charged with building this magnificent church. And my guess is that when he made pilgrimage to Rome back in the 1920s, he visited the major basilicas: St. Peter’s, St. Paul’s, St. John Lateran, which are certainly the inspiration for the architecture of our beautiful Church, but also he must have made a pious visit to Basilica San Clemente. Why San Clemente? Because it is there that lay the relics of our parish patron, St. Ignatius of Antioch. And there in the apse of San Clemente, is one of the most beautiful mosaics in the world of the vine and the branches described by the Lord in the Gospel today.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.” The Psalms and the prophets depict God as a vine grower. Psalm 80 says, “O God, You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out nations and planted it. You cleared out what was before it; it took deep root and filled the land.” Israel is the vine planted by God the vine grower. And the Psalm speaks of how God delivered this Israelites from Egyptian slavery, and how he continues to tend his vine, giving his people what they need to be holy. The is certainly a prefigurement of what God has done for the Church: delivering us from the slavery of sin through Christ, giving us the Gospel and the sacraments for us to be holy and bear fruit for the kingdom.

“I am the vine, you are the branches,” the Lord says to his disciples. The life and power and grace of Jesus Christ flows into the members of the Church. Jesus is the indispensable source of life for the Church, the one upon whom we constantly and radically depend. “Without me you can do nothing” he says. Nothing good comes from being separated from Jesus Christ. Nothing good comes from acting on motivations divorced from Jesus’ teachings. 

Communion with Jesus is so vital, that those who are severed from him are spiritually dead branches that will be cast into the fire. The fire Jesus mentions here is of course the fires which await those who remain severed from him in this life through sin, unbelief, and failure to repent.

Rather than spiritual death, the Lord, of course, desires for us vibrant and abundant spiritual life. But just as plants need constant exposure to sunlight for energy, we need constant expose to the light and life of Jesus through the Sacraments and through prayer. 

This new month of May we have a great model of one connected to the abundant life of God in Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

The first time we meet Mary in the Scriptures, is in the house of Nazareth. Sacred Art often depicts Mary, seat in Nazareth with the Scriptures in her lap. Mary, no doubt was a woman of prayer, and a lover of God’s Holy Word. Mary, disposed her mind and soul to the light and life and love of God through her whole life through prayer and scripture study, and the total availability and total trust she exhibited when asked to be the Mother of the Son of God, no doubt flowed from a life of prayer and a desire to follow the example of the holy men and women of the Hebrew Scriptures. We too need to expose ourselves to the light and life of God through prayer and regular reading of scripture. You might consider joining our parish bible study, which meets Monday evenings in the school, to ponder, like Mary God’s Holy Word.

Consider too how Our Lady, didn’t just pray on her own. No doubt, she prayed with her righteous husband, Joseph. Their spousal prayer was no doubt a constant source of strength and comfort in their many challenges. Our Lady also engaged in communal prayer with the apostles. As they awaited the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, they gathered with Mary for prayer. Yes, we need private prayer throughout the week, but like Mary with the apostles, we also need time praying with others. Spouses, please pray with each other. Parents and Grandparents, please pray with your children and grandchildren. 

Speaking of communal prayer, I’d like to share with you one of the amazing new apostolates being undertaken by our legion of Mary. Prior to easter, our parish legion discerned a new ministry of gathering at the graves of our parishioners who have died in the past year or two for the praying of the rosary. Additionally, members of our parish legion invite family members of the deceased to gather for the prayer. What a holy ministry!  If you’d like to learn more about this powerful apostolate, give me a call or send me an email, and I can put you in touch with Legion Members, or you can speak with them after our May Crowning after the 11am mass. 

Yearly, Pope Francis, urges Catholics to pray the rosary during the month of May. If you haven’t prayed the rosary in few months or a few years, don’t let the month of May go by without picking up the beads.  For Our Lady wants to see that abundant life and grace obtained through her son’s death and resurrection flourish in us. She wants to see the gifts of the Holy Spirit grow in us. And the rosary is a powerful means of seeking her assistance and disposing our souls to the help Jesus wishes to give us through his mother. 

May Mother Mary help us to remain united to Jesus in mind, body, and spirit, to pray as we ought, to bear fruit as we ought, that we may become worthy of the promises of Christ for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

5th Sunday of Easter 2018 - "Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit"

Last Week, Fr. Klasinski shared how some of the most ancient sacred images of Jesus we have, are not of the crucifixion, but of Jesus, as a young, strapping shepherd. These images of Jesus the Good Shepherd are found throughout the catacombs of Rome.

Once we came out from the underground, with the legalization of Christianity in 313 by the Roman Emperor Constantine, we started building beautiful basilicas in honor of the Lord. One such basilica, built over an ancient pagan temple to the roman god Mithras is the basilica of San Clemente—named after the first century Pope, Pope St. Clement I who was martyred around the year 99 during the persecution of the Emperor Trajan and who is mentioned in the first Eucharistic prayer.

I’ll never forget visiting the Basilica of San Clemente, for it contains one of the most beautiful mosaics in the world, and it depicts our Gospel today. I recommend you search the web for an image of this amazing mosaic when you get home; for now you will just have to imagine. At the center of the mosaic is Jesus on the cross, and out of the foot of the cross grows this green leafy vine. “I am the true vine”, Jesus says in the Gospel today.

Above Jesus crucified is a hand, the hand of God the Father, the vine grower, the one who blesses the sacrifice of his son and the growth of the Church, as Jesus says “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.”

Now picture, growing out of the foot of the cross is this multitude of curling branches, filling this whole mosaic. And in the midst of all these undulating, curling branches, are birds and deer and fruit and flowers, poor peasants, pious religious, and Doctors of the Church. And these represent us, the rich diversity of the Church. As Jesus says, “I am the vine, you are the branches.”

Now picture on the branches closest to Jesus on the cross are his blessed mother on one side and the beloved disciple St. John on the other, with his head inclined toward Jesus, like he did at the last supper. Mary and John are for us two great examples of how to remain close to Jesus, as he teaches us “Remain in me, as I remain in you.” We are each to follow the example of the Blessed Mother, imitating her humility and her courage. And we are to follow the example of St. John who inclines his ear to the heart of Jesus. To remain with Jesus we, like Mary and St. John, need to follow Jesus to the cross, meditate upon his sufferings, and love Him with the heart of a mother and the heart of an apostle.

Now picture, on the wood of the cross, surrounding Jesus’ body are twelve white doves. The dove makes us think of the holy spirit, and the number 12 makes us think of the 12 apostles. So these white doves are the apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit, ready to fly around the world to spread the peace of the Gospel. They also symbolize the twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, patience, kindness, gentleness, modesty, chastity, self-control, and the like. These fruits are to be evident in the life of the Church, for as the Lord teaches: “Whoever remains in me, and I in him will bear much fruit.” Only when we remain connected to Jesus will we be as patient as we need to be, as gentle and kind and courageous as God made us to be.

I’ll post an image of this mosaic on my blog and facebook page, along with a copy of this homily, as I do every week. So you can see for yourselves this tremendous image. And you’ll notice all those branches growing from the cross are not growing in a haphazard, random way. They fit perfectly together, in an orderly fashion, as if they have been pruned and cared for by the vine grower. As the Lord teaches, “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.”

The Father prunes us. The Father seeks to remove all those attitudes and behaviors which are unbecoming of His children, for He wants those spiritual fruits to flourish in our lives. So often, we resist spiritual growth by speaking violent resentful words instead of forgiving upbuilding words, by letting others do the hard work of the Church instead of taking it up ourselves, by giving into temptations of the flesh instead of the deep urgings of the spirit. So, through the trials, challenges, and, yes, the suffering of our life, the Father prunes us, to teach us, to humble us, to help us sever our unhealthy relationships and behaviors, so that we can bear healthy spiritual fruit.

In the mosaic there are no dead branches, just as Jesus says, those that do not bear good fruit “will be thrown”, gathered, thrown into a fire, and burned.  Jesus here speaks quite apocalyptically, speaking of the eternal consequences for those who do not remain in communion with Him through lives of faith, hope, and love.

Thanks be to God, that if and when we have severed ourselves from God through serious sin, through mortal sin, we can be grafted back upon the vine through the Sacrament of Confession. For as the Catechism teaches, “The whole power of the sacrament of Penance consists in restoring us to God's grace and joining us with him in an intimate friendship.”

So, as you’ve been imagining this mosaic from San Clemente, imagine now the moment in the Mass, where you come forward to receive Holy Communion. Imagine from this altar, vines curling out to you, to bring spiritual nourishment and God’s very life. The life that flows from the self-giving of Jesus on the cross is to flow into your life so that your life might bear the same fruit that Jesus’ life bore.

But that vine isn’t detached as you leave Mass, let it not be severed as you walk out of Church. You are to remain connected to the altar, to the cross, to the Lord, in your family interactions, your business relationships, your political associations, your treatment of strangers, your sensitivity to the needs of the poor.

The final detail from the mosaic is the type of vine the artist chose to depict. He chose to use the ancient symbol of the acanthus plant. From Greek antiquity, the acanthus has been used for medicinal purposes. So, too the Christian in the world, united to Christ through prayer and through the Sacraments, is to have a medicinal effect in the world. We are to bring healing to broken relationships, peace to violent conflicts, purification to corrupt governments, cleansing of perverted cultural norms.

“By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples." Throughout the eek may you remain to the Lord, bear fruit for the Lord, bring healing to the world for the Lord, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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Before the Creed I would like to share with you some news. This week, I received a letter from Bishop Perez.  After four years here at St. Clare, my assignment has come to an end. And so on the 12th of June, I will be the new parochial vicar of Holy Family Parish in Parma, Ohio. I have treasured my time here at St. Clare, but  "we must go where we are sent" by God...and the Bishop. I’m so glad I was sent here to St. Clare, but the bishop, also like the good vine grower, tends the vine, and sends me back to the west side.

But listen to the beautiful words of the Bishop from my appointment letter from Bishop Perez describing the work of the Parochial vicar: "Continually fortified by the grace of ordination, you have the task and the privilege of reverently leading the faithful in prayer, especially in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. You are empowered by God's call and by his grace to know and love the people you serve, to care for the poor and needy, to teach the youth, and to attend the sick and dying with the compassion of Christ."

So, please pray for me, that I may be faithful in this new ministerial assignment. Fr. Klasinksi will share news about your new parochial vicar after communion today. So if you are in the habit of immediately leaving Mass after receiving Holy Communion…shame on you…you should stay and finish mass anyway, but today you’ll hear some news affecting your parish.