www.vocation.com - Intimacy with Christ

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.

Introductory Prayer: Dear Lord, I believe in your providence and love in my life. You created me with a plan to be with you and to work with you, to grow as a living branch on you the Vine. I trust you to care for my needs and to reveal how you want me to bear fruit with my life. I love you and want to grow by giving myself more fully according to your will. May my love glorify you, Lord.

Petition: Grant me, Lord, the intimacy to know your will and the love to do it for your glory.

1. The Vine Grower. My life is not simply my life. It belongs to the Vine Grower who gives life. God the Father gives me natural life as well as the supernatural life of grace, a share in his own life. As the Vine Grower he works in every circumstance to care for me, my growth, and the fruitfulness of my life. This fruitfulness depends primarily on my relationship with Christ the Vine, through whom his life is given me.

But I often resist pruning, the discipline of Christian life. I prefer not to become too dependent on the Vine. Yet once I become too independent, disconnected, and separated from the Vine, then that life of grace dies and as a branch I can bear no fruit. I may think of myself as productive in some way, but there is no real value in what I do, since I was created to be a branch on this Vine. If I resist the Vine Grower's efforts to revive and reconnect me, he will have no choice but to give up on this dead branch. Alone, I can only wither and will be good for nothing but fueling a fire. Do I trust the Vine Grower? Do I cooperate with his plan?

2. Remain in Me. (Intimacy) To remain in Christ is neither a passive state nor a survival mentality. To remain alive in him requires growth. A failure to grow marks the beginning of death. My relationship with Christ, he in me and I in him, grows the more I give myself to him. This begins in prayer where he invites me to a deeper understanding of his ways and a stronger embracing of his will. While his love is constant, I can always grow in my awareness of his great love for me and thus desire more and more to respond with love. This leads to an intimacy where I share his view of my life, where I come to desire what he desires, love what he loves and detest what he detests. Faith and sincerity in prayer will change my life. And this change will be seen in how much and how well I do his will each day. What are the sacrifices of love asked by God in his pruning of my life today?

3. Glorify My Father. St. Augustine says, "Do you want to speak the praise of God? Be yourselves what you speak. If you live good lives, you are his praise" [Sermon 34]. We become the glory of God by doing his will and reproducing his life. What is the fruit we are called to give God? It can only be something lasting, eternal. First is my living of God's life, growing in grace and holiness. Holiness is being united in mind, heart and action with him. Then from this life flow the works of God: "Ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you." Jesus places the two together: "Bear much fruit and become my disciples." Do I want to do great things for God during my short life? Do I want to help Jesus save souls, bring them truth, freedom, healing and life? Only by living in grace and seeking his plan will I fulfill my mission and become eternally fruitful. His Kingdom in my heart and in the apostolic works of my life glorifies God.

Conversation: Lord Jesus, so many times I separate myself from you, the true and eternal vine. Help me to know with certainty that without you I can do nothing, and with you I can do all things. Let me never be parted from you, either here on earth or in eternity.

Questionnaire

1. Is living the life of grace the first priority of my life? How do I protect it? What have I done to grow in my prayer-life, quality-wise?

2. Have I learned to trust the Father enough to ask him to show me his plan? How well do I welcome and cooperate with his pruning of those things to which I am too attached, my own desires, preferences and plans? Do I most of all desire intimacy with him?

3. In what ways is my prayer leading to changes in my life? Has it moved me to serve others in charity and in apostolic service, sharing the gift of my faith with them? How do I glorify God by the way I live?