Tuesday, April 26, 2005

4:19 pm

DAILY GOSPEL
«Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68
    
 
Wednesday, 27 April 2005
Wednesday of the 5th week of Easter
Today the Church celebrates : St. Zita of Lucca,   St Liberale  
 

John Tauler : Pruned so as to bear fruit



Acts of the Apostles 15,1-6.

Some who had come down from Judea were instructing the brothers, "Unless you are circumcised according to the Mosaic practice, you cannot be saved." Because there arose no little dissension and debate by Paul and Barnabas with them, it was decided that Paul, Barnabas, and some of the others should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and presbyters about this question. They were sent on their journey by the church, and passed through Phoenicia and Samaria telling of the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers. When they arrived in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church, as well as by the apostles and the presbyters, and they reported what God had done with them. But some from the party of the Pharisees who had become believers stood up and said, "It is necessary to circumcise them and direct them to observe the Mosaic law." The apostles and the presbyters met together to see about this matter.

Psalms 122,1-5.

A song of ascents. Of David. I rejoiced when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD."
And now our feet are standing within your gates, Jerusalem.
Jerusalem, built as a city, walled round about.
Here the tribes have come, the tribes of the LORD, As it was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD.
Here are the thrones of justice, the thrones of the house of David.


Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 15,1-8.

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. 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.

Copyright © Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, USCCB



Commentary of the day :

John Tauler (around 1300-1361), Dominican
Sermon 7 (translated from the French - Amis de Dieu, Cerf 1979, t.1, p. 30)

Pruned so as to bear fruit


The vinegrower goes to his vineyard to cut the wild shoots. If he didn’t do this and if he left them on the good branches, his vine would only produce sour and bad wine. This is what a nobleman or a noblewoman must do: she must prune herself of all that is out of order, he must uproot entirely all his ways of being and his inclinations, whether they be those of joy or of suffering, that is to say, they must cut off their bad faults, and that will break neither the head nor the arm nor the leg.

But hold back your knife until you have seen what you have to cut. If the vinegrower didn’t know the art of pruning, he would cut everything, both the good branch, which will soon give raisins, and the bad branch, and he would ruin the vineyard. That is what certain people do. They don’t know their job. They leave the vices, the bad inclinations, which are deeply rooted in nature, and they prune and trim poor nature itself. Nature in itself is good and noble: what do want to cut away from it? When the time comes for the fruit, that is to say, for divine life, you won’t have anything left but nature in ruins.



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