Weekend Reflections for 4/30/21

God's Vineyard

In Sunday's Gospel Jesus describes our relationship with his Father as one of life giving union. He tends His vines with loving care and prunes them so that they will bear more fruit. Our God is always at work making us into the persons He wants us to be. In Sunday's first reading from the Acts of the Apostles we are reminded how the risen Lord appeared to Saul (later Paul) and God pruned him of his murderous hatred of the Christians by a humbling and debilitating blindness for several days. It is God who makes Paul into the tireless and most convincing Apostle to the Gentiles who brings thousands to an experience of Jesus Christ.

God wants to do the same with us. He wants us to grow into our deepest identity as His beloved daughters and sons. We come to know who we are through our relationships with God, family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and even strangers we meet on the way. God wants to prune away all the creative ways we have of being selfish and self-centered so that we can be more loving and compassionate to others, more Christ-like. That kind of pruning is usually slow and gradual and may take much of our life time so we need to be attentive and patient with God and ourselves. All He asks is for us to say "Yes" and then stay out of His way.

-Fr. Ralph Huse, SJ