A Message from Fr. Jay
Dear Friends,
Last week, Jesus proclaimed, “I am the Good Shepherd” and this week He proclaims, “I am the true vine”. While He announced last week that He is a Good Shepherd who always remains with His sheep, this week He pleads with His disciples to ‘remain in Him’. This ‘remaining in Him’ is not something physical, but means to bear fruit which, is not simple or easy! To bear fruit, the vine needs to be pruned. To get the best wine, the grapes have to be pressed. No pain no gain!
As part of my daily learning of the English language, I recently came across a word – ‘Jesus nut’ which is main rotor retaining nut in some helicopters. During the Vietnam war, our soldiers used mostly helicopters for transportation and ‘Jesus nut’ became a slang term during this time. If the Jesus nut were to fail, the rotor would detach from the helicopter and the crew has no other option but to pray to Jesus for their lives.
If pruned by Jesus, we bear fruit; if detached from Jesus we die. Saul in the first reading is a perfect example. As Saul, he was killing the early Christians and when he was pruned by Jesus, he turned into Paul, bearing fruit and building up the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria.
In the second reading, John explains how one could be remaining in Jesus- not merely in word but in deed and truth.
How do we choose to remain in Him? How do we prune ourselves in our current living? Let us add glory to our Father by bearing much fruit and becoming His worthy disciples.
I thank you wholeheartedly for all your love, prayers, blessings, greetings, wishes and gifts for commemorating the gift of Priesthood in my life for 25 years. You made the occasion grace-filled by adding glory to His name and rejuvenating my commitment to serve Him and you. Thank you all.
God Bless,
Fr. Jay Raju
Reading 1: Acts 9:26-31
Reading 11: I John 3:18-24
Gospel: John 15:1-8
