6th Sunday of Easter A
A patient visited a psychiatrist.
"Something is wrong with me," he said. "I keep thinking I'm a
dog." "How long have you felt this way?" The doctor asked.
"Since I was a puppy," the patient replied. If we think we're living
a dog's life or wish we could change our leaves, it may be that we are not
trying very hard to be who we were made to be. We were made to be human
reflections of God's image. To be fully human is to be God-like. To live as a
full human being is to be in union with the Source of all life. We cannot grow
into the kind of person we were created to be if we are unwilling to allow our
souls to be nourished by the Grace of God that is offered to us in and through
Jesus Christ. "I am the vine, and you are the branches. He who abides in
Me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do
nothing."
There is a story of a village Church in
which the lighting system was less than adequate. The pastor decided to launch
an appeal for a new chandelier. After the first appeal to the parishioners had
been made, the old sexton approached the pastor and said: "I'm not giving
one cent for that new chandelier for two reasons. First of all, nobody here can
play one of those things. Secondly, what this Church needs is some new
lights!"
If you are presently lost in a dark
moment of anxiety over your place in the real scheme of things, what your life
needs is some new light. "I am the Light of the World," Jesus says.
"He who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light
of life" (Jn. 8:12). Thus, the Apostle Paul implores us:
Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the
dead, and Christ shall give you light (Eph. 5:14).
Follow Christ! Attach yourself securely
to the True Vine and you will not wither and die from anxiety over your place
in the scheme of things. Rather, you will grow ever stronger and able to bear
much fruit.
Christ's followers are a people of the
Spirit, the New Testament writers emphatically tell us. And "the fruit of
the spirit is love" (Gal. 5:22)...
If I speak in the tongues of men and of
angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. And if I
have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I
have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If
I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not
love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or
boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it
is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in
the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,
endures all things ... so faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the
greatest of these is love (1 Cor. 13:1-7, 13).
If you have not love, you are nothing.
If I have not love, I am nothing. We must abide in Christ, for apart from Him,
you and I can do nothing. Abide in Christ! That means, abide in Love! Abide in
Love, and you will become the person you were created to be according to God's
scheme of things. Abide in Love, and your life will become a beautiful
reflection of God's own image. Abide in Love and your spirit will never grow
old. Abide in Love and rejoice that, by the Grace of God, you are young at
heart!
What should be our delight when the
Risen Christ, in all His glory, speaks directly to the heart of each one of us,
saying, "Come to Me. Attach yourself to Me. Be part of My life forever. I
have reserved a splendid place for you. Come! Abide in Me!"
Remain in God’s love and your joy will be complete.
