Joke: A woman found herself standing at the Pearly Gates. St. Peter greeted her and said, “These are the Gates to Heaven, my dear. But you must do one more thing before you can enter. The woman was very excited and asked St. Peter what she must do. “Spell a word,” St. Peter replied. “What word?” she asked. “Any word,” answered St. Peter. “It’s your choice.” The woman promptly replied, “Then the word I will spell is love: L-O-V-E.” St. Peter welcomed her in and asked her if she would mind taking his place at the gates for a few minutes while he took a break. So the woman was sitting in St. Peter’s chair when a man approached the gates. She realized it was her husband of many years. “What happened?” she cried. “Why are you here?” her husband stared at her for a moment, then said, “I was so upset when I left your funeral that I got in an accident. Did I really make it to heaven?” “Not yet,” she replied. “You must spell a word first.” “What word?” he asked. The woman responded, “Czechoslovakia.”

In all of today’s readings, we are invited to abide in the Lord Jesus to follow his teaching to be able to bear fruits. Jesus used the image of the vine and identified himself as the vine, and we are the branches reported in today’s Gospel. As the branches cannot live on their own without the vine, we are reminded that we cannot live on our own separated from the Lord Jesus. How is it possible that we are human beings abide in the Lord Jesus who is God? Also, how is it possible that Jesus is the vine and God the Father is the grower? Isn’t it that we learn Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in him? What does he mean when he said, reported in today’s Gospel, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower”?

John began his Gospel by saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” This “Word” that we’ve learned is nobody else except the Lord Jesus Christ he was with God from the beginning of creation. From the very first book of the Bible, the Book of Genesis, we’ve learned that God created the universe and all within it by saying the Word, and everything and anything came into being. This Word that John began his Gospel identified as the Son of God, and God himself who was with God the Father right from the beginning of creation.

The moment of saying “yes” to be the mother of God by the power of the Holy Spirit to give birth to the Son of God and God himself, our Blessed Virgin Mary followed through in good times and in bad times. Her faithfulness led her to the foot of the cross of her son, Mary didn’t give up and she continued to be with the Church after her son’s death. Not only did Mary faithfully live out the call to be the mother of God, but her son also faithfully carried out his mission the moment he accepted to vest on himself our human flesh to be like all of us except for sins. The Son that our Blessed Virgin Mary gave birth to named Jesus Christ whom Saint Paul emphasized in his letter to the Hebrews saying, “Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered, and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.” Son of God and God himself though he was, lowered himself even lower than the angels, he learned to obey God the Father even to the point of death, death on the cross. Therefore, Jesus is both God and man that’s when he identified himself as the vine and we are the branches with God the Father as the grower, Saint John wants to remind us of his human nature that we are invited to abide in him to bear fruits. As the branches cannot live without the vine, so we cannot live without abiding in the Lord Jesus. How do we abide in him or remain in him?

To abide or remain in the Lord Jesus is to follow his teaching, his commandments that Saint John reminds us, reported in today’s second reading, saying, “Those who keep his [Jesus’] commandments remain in him, and he in them, and the way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit he gave us.” So, to abide in the vine, we are invited to keep Jesus’ commandments. When we keep his commandments, how do we know that he remains in us and we remain in him? When someone remains in our heart, mind, and soul, we would be nice to that person. We don’t want to hurt that person either in words or in deeds. We want to respect that person. We want to listen to that person. We want to spend time with that person, etc. We know that Jesus remains in us when we spend time to listen to him, to be with him, to respect him and his words, and to be faithful to him. What kind of fruits that we bear to testify that Jesus remains in us and we remain in him if it’s not that we respect each other? We learn to be truthful to ourselves and others. We learn to love others especially those who hurt us somehow someway.  

How can the Lord Jesus remain in you when you cheat your spouse and are unfaithful to your spouse? How shall the Lord Jesus remain in you when you disobey your parents, when you cheat on your homework and exams, and when you hurt or harm someone either in words or in deeds? In his mercy and forgiveness, Jesus forgave the sinners and restored the sick back to health, have you learned to forgive one another, especially those who hurt you somehow or someway? Would you want to remain in Jesus? Would you want Jesus to remain in you? Jesus said, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.” Have you ever asked God and not received what you asked for? If yes, ask yourselves, “Has God remained in me and his words remained in me?” How should I live my life so the Lord remains in me and his words remain in me? The decision is yours.