The gospel for Wednesday of the fifth week of Easter is taken from John, 15th chapter, first through the eighth verse. 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. 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. If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you by this.

Is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit and become My disciples? It’s clear that as Jesus was teaching his disciples, he kept going back to the Father. And he makes it clear that the Father and Jesus are one and what he wants. What Jesus wants is that we have the same kind of feeling that God and us are one. Not that we are God, but that somehow he works within us so that we can become everything we were intended to be and accomplish great things for him to be fruitful, which is a way of awakening other people to the beauty and the goodness of a God who dwells within us and longs for nothing more. Then we become who he created us to be.

That is what glorifies God, that we become who we are and share that with those around us. Please take a few moments to reflect on these images. And then I will close with a prayer. Closing prayer Father, there’s a way in which we can imagine ourselves as wonderful in the eyes of God by doing something spectacular, something important that changes the world. When it’s so much simpler than that. Each of us have a destiny.

Each of us have the work that we’re called to do. And when we trust that that work will be done through the power of God, then we know we’ll have peace, a freedom from anxiety. And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.