Tag: vine and branches

• John 10:9: “I Am the Gate”

  
  

  John 10:9: “I Am the Gate”

  Thursday, June 5, 2025

  Jesus tells us, “I am the gate. Those who come in by me will be saved; they will come in and go out and find pasture”. (GNT)

  We notice that Jesus does not trap his sheep in an enclosure with strict rules. Knowing their love for others – even their enemies, he invites them to come in and go out through the safe gate of The Way.

  I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved: and he shall go in, and go out, and shall find pastures. (DRA)

  We see that Jesus does not confine his followers in tight corners. Knowing their fidelity, he gives them the freedom to come and go in his Truth.

  I am the door. If a man goes in through me, he will be safe and sound; he can come in and out and find his food. (Phillips)

  We watch Jesus who does not micromanage the faithful. Believing in their hope, he invites them to walk in The Light.

  I am the Door; anyone who enters through Me will be saved [and will live forever], and will go in and out [freely], and find pasture (spiritual security). (AMP)

  We know that Jesus understands the difficulty of our journey. Loving our persistence, he invites us to become a branch on the great vine of life. If we doubt his patience as he offers this invitation, we remind ourselves of this story’s details.

  Jesus told this simple story, but they had no idea what he was talking about. So he tried again. “I’ll be explicit, then. I am the Gate for the sheep. All those others are up to no good—sheep stealers, every one of them. But the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture. A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of. (MSG)

  Today we receive a loving invitation to walk in The Way, to hope in The Light and the Life, and to live in the truth that is Christ. Let us move toward this door to authenticity. Let us enter this gate to transformation.

  Tomorrow, the Narrow Gate and The Great Reversal.

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  When we compare varying versions of this verse, we see that despite the circumstances of our lives, we might look for the doors that Christ opens for us.

  Image from: https://www.journeywithjesus.net/essays/2626-i-am-the-gate

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  June 5, 2025

  freedom, The Narrow Door, The Narrow Gate, vine and branches

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• Psalm 106: Grafting to the Vine

  
  

  Psalm 106: Grafting to the Vine

  

  Saturday, May 25, 2024

  A Favorite from May 13, 2009.

  We can always count on God’s fidelity despite anything we think, say or do.  God’s love is that immense.  All generations experience the collective sin of turning away.  All generations have the opportunity to return.  How do we show God that we desire this goodness?  We thank and praise God when God visits the many small miracles of each day upon us.  We credit God with what is God’s; we credit God with all that is true and honest; and we allow this truth and honesty and love – this God – to become manifest in us.

  From today’s MAGNIFICAT Meditation by Sister Lucia, one of the three children who spoke with the Blessed Mother in Fatima, Portugal on this day in 1917.  To love is to possess the greatest gift of God, himself . . . It is to possess God and be ourselves immersed in God; it is the true love of God in us . . . The materialistic world does not know God, does not understand the spiritual life of the indwelling of the most high Trinity . . . And not only does it not understand it.  It actually despises it and even persecutes it; but it persecutes it because it does not know it, and is unaware of the countless treasures and intimate riches which are contained in it . . . The world seduces and deceives, and Christ cannot reveal himself to those who allow themselves to be caught in the deceitful illusions of the world.  Hence, those who abandon themselves to materialism do not understand the language used by Jesus Christ who is the Word of God; they have been called, since we were all called to follow the divine law, but they have not been chosen, because they do not wish to hear the voice of God, . . . the teaching of Christ . . . They have blocked off their own entrance to eternal life.

  Being a language teacher, and thinking about these words, I want to rush about setting up environments and laying out lesson plans to be certain that all of us learn the language of God so that we might fear less and love more.  Then I pull myself up short and realize that each day as I go through my thousand little jobs and works, I have the opportunity to create these plans by the way I move through the many scenarios of my day.  The words I say and the gestures I enact are my lesson plans.  And more than this, the time I spend with God in reflection prepares me to enter into these scenarios.  It empowers me to try to live these scenes with truth and light.  And lastly, it brings me the tools I need to discern the fruits of each day.  Have my thoughts, words and deeds borne fruit?  Has this been good fruit or bad?

  Today’s Gospel is from John 15 when Jesus explains that we might remain in him just as he remains in the Father.  We become the branches of his vine.

  From a mini reflection in MAGNIFICAT: Branches severed, branches hanging tenuously from Christ the vine, wither.  Branches firmly grafted into Christ the vine continue to be refreshed and renewed by the water of life, the Spirit of God, for whom all human beings thirst, knowingly or unknowingly.

  When we graft ourselves firmly to the vine, we find grace in every situation – both the bad and the good.

  When we graft ourselves firmly to the vine, we become renewed in the Spirit – even when we have reached the bottom of our resources.

  When we graft ourselves firmly to the vine, we can acknowledge freely our turning away from God – whether the turning is individual or collective.

  When we graft ourselves firmly to the vine, we need not fear the materialistic world – whether it despises or loves us.

  When we graft ourselves firmly to the vine, we can join the psalmist who writes: Give thanks to the Lord, who is good, whose love endures forever . . . Let all the people say, Amen!  Hallelujah!

  Cameron, Peter John. “Meditation of the Day.” MAGNIFICAT. 13.5 (2009). Print.  

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  May 25, 2024

  bearing fruit, God’s fidelity, John 1:5, vine and branches

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