Online with Christ?

Fifth Sunday in Easter

Acts 9:26-31; 1 Jn 3:18-24; Jn 15:1-24

What is the first thing that you do when you enter into a coffee shop or a restaurant? You might say, I ask for the menu and see what good food or drinks there are. However if I had to be honest, I would reply differently. The first thing that I do - and I know that you would too - is that I would ask for the Internet Key, the WiFi passcode. Don't we all do that?

I am sorry for bringing up such a banal example to introduce today's Gospel but I just wanted to use it to put into stark contrast our readiness to be connected - but not to the internet but with Christ. Am I offline or online with Christ?

Can you imagine what happens to a branch what has been cut off from a vine? What future does it have? None at all. At first it doesn't look that bad but soon enough it withers and will not be able to produce new shoots or fruit or even leaves. There is no hope at all for such a branch.

Can you imagine what happens to the Christian who is no longer attached to Christ, the source of life? Like the branch cut off from the vine initially it can look quite good but it is actually sterile. We might work hard from early morning till late at night, we might even think that we are helping humanity, we might be praised by friends and receive awards too, we might even make considerable sacrifices. However in the long run, all of this does not mean anything because it has no meaning for Christ and for eternity.

Henri J M Nouwen says that we are too much concerned with being productive but what God actually asks of us is to be fruitful, and that fruit can only come from being united with Christ.

I will not go here into the exegesis of the word "remain" which in the original is "menein" and is mentioned eight times in today's text and 40 times in the whole gospel of John. I would like to go into what remain can actually mean for us.

To remain in Christ means to believe in Christ, but this is not merely something done with our minds, or with our lips, as we are going to do in a few minutes' time when we recite the Creed. to believe is to have faith in Christ, and this means that it must be translated into actions by living in conformity with this faith and putting it into practice.

It means that I seek to remain attached to Christ from whom our life comes by overcoming all breeches to communion through the sacrament of reconciliation. And it also means to strengthen this communion through the sacrament of communion, the Eucharist.

We must keep in mind something else however: Jesus does not only put his emphasis on us being attached to him. He also promises to be attached to us. There is a certain mutuality that we often overlook. It is out of this that a certain relationship of cooperation results, just like that of a disciple to his master.

What are the fruits therefore? One of these fruits is sanctification, holiness. It might not be very fashionable to speak of holiness, but incidentally, Pope Francis has just issued an Apostolic Exhortation called Gaudete et Exsultate , the main focus of which holiness in everyday life. In fact, in the first part of the exhortation, he describes how in our simple, daily chores we pave our path to holiness.

There is an experience that I have read recently about a certain Maria do Soccorro, a university student in Portugal. She shares about how concerned she was that student councils in her university were too polarised politically and that they were often used as stepping stones for students to eventually become involved politically later on. She had another dream however. She was sensitive to the needs of her fellow students and wanted to do something for them, but she would only do so if she would remain united with Christ. In fact, for this reason, she says, some students often wrote her off as strange and she also sometimes felt uncomfortable going attending mass, but she did so anyway.

Christmas was approaching and Maria knew that a number of students were going to stay in town because they lived far away and did not afford to travel home for the holidays so she had an idea. She asked her friends if they would like to pool out some money to buy gifts for the students who were not going home for the Christmas holidays. Her idea was immediately accepted and in no time they managed to collect the gifts that they needed.

A few weeks later she was surprised to hear that she was nominated to sit on the student council. She was even more surprised to hear the reason for it. They were saying that she was chosen because unlike the other candidates, she knew exactly what she wanted and how to get there.

This is what it means to remain in Christ, to have Christ remain in you and to bear fruit, much fruit.

I would like to leave you here with a question: What would it be like if we used the same reasoning when we are writing our dissertations, or when we are planning our career path or our relationships?