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More Thoughts on the Vine and Branches

This coming Sunday is the 5th Sunday of Easter. Many Catholic scholars (Raymond Brown, Jerome Kodell, Eduard Schwizer, etc.) see a part of John’s Eucharistic theology in the metaphor of the “Vine and the Branches” – specifically serving as the cup, as a type of parallel to the “Bread of Life” discourse in John 6. The vine was a recognized Eucharistic symbol at the time the Gospel according to…

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Clearing the Baltimore Harbor Channel

If you are interested in the progress on clearing the Baltimore Harbor channel to reopen the Port of Baltimore, here are two sites I can recommend: What’s Going on with Shipping Key Bridge Response 2024 – the Unified Command Site In case you are interested in what they are using to “pick up” things on the harbor floor:

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In the Father's House

Today’s gospel contains the verse we all remember from the King James translation version: “In my Father’s mansion, there are many rooms.” As grand as that image is, in fact, the word “mansion” does not appear in the original Greek. It simply says,  2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.  Continue reading In the Father’s House

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Remaining

This coming Sunday is the 5th Sunday of Easter.  Another word with a double meaning is meno — translated “remain” in our text, but it also carries meanings of “abide, stay; live, dwell; last, endure, continue.” Sometimes this verb refers to the branch staying connected to the vine and sometimes it refers to disciples staying connected to Jesus. This word occurs 11 times in 15:1-17. Just as a…

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The Feast of St. Mark

Today is the feast day of St. Mark the Evangelist. Tradition has it that this is the same John Mark, the cousin of St. Barnabus who was on the first missionary expedition of St. Paul – which was actually led by Barnabus. For some reason Paul went on his own for his second and third missionary trips. Tradition has it that in the course of time, Mark founded the Church in Alexandria and later…

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Bearing Fruit

This coming Sunday is the 5th Sunday of Easter. The OT prophets envisioned a time when Israel would “bud and blossom and fill all the world with fruit” (Isa. 27:6; cf. Hos. 14:4–8). What is the “fruit” that the gardener expects from the branches? When chapter 15 is read in context of John 14 it is evident that loving Jesus (vv.15, 21, 23) forms part of the answer. When read in the context of John…

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Filling up what is lacking

Today is the Feast Day of Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen, a Capuchin Franciscan friar, who was martyred during the Catholic Counter Reformation in 1622 (some 100 years after the start of the Protestant Reformation). Fidelis had been evangelizing in Graubünden, now a canton of eastern Switzerland, which at the time was a stronghold of Calvinism. He was meeting with a great deal of success in…

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The Vine Grower

This coming Sunday is the 5th Sunday of Easter. Like the song of the vineyard in Isaiah 5, John 15:2 depicts the role of God as the grower who spades, clears, plants and takes care of the vineyard only to be rewarded with wild/sour grapes (Isa. 5:1–7; cf. Ps. 80:8–9). According to 15:2, the vinedresser does two things to ensure maximum fruit production (“he takes away … he prunes”; cf. Heb.…

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Voices

In the gospel reading for today we heard Jesus tell some bystanders who wanted Jesus to plainly say that he was the Messiah. Jesus replied: “But you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.” Continue reading Voices

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Voices

In the gospel reading for today we heard Jesus tell some bystanders who wanted Jesus to plainly say that he was the Messiah. Jesus replied: “But you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.” Continue reading Voices

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The True Vine

This coming Sunday is the 5th Sunday of Easter. The ancient Old Testament allegory of Israel as Yahweh’s vine becomes deeply Christianized at this point. Jesus is the true vine of which the Father takes personal care, pruning the barren branches, trimming and cleaning the fruitful. These latter are the disciples who have accepted Jesus’ life-giving word. They are invited, encouraged to live on,…

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The Vine and Branches in Context

This coming Sunday is the 5th Sunday of Easter in Lectionary Cycle B. The first reading for this Sunday comes from Acts of the Apostles. There is a certain sense of appropriateness to that selection as we pay attention to the time after the Resurrection when the apostles and disciples were about the process of becoming “church” (ekklesia) – those who were “called out” to do the work of the Lord.…

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Leadership

Note: still away from the parish, but here is another offering from the trove of homilies past. After having graduated from the US Naval Academy – the first cauldron of forming leaders for the Navy and Marine Corp – and after finishing nuclear power training and submarine school, I reported as a bright shiny Ensign to my first submarine! I was ready to be a deep-diving, backing down full at…

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A Theological Summary

This coming Sunday is the 4th Sunday of Easter. “This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. This command I have received from my Father” (John 10:17-18) Continue reading A Theological Summary

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A Willingness to Lay down his life

This coming Sunday is the 4th Sunday of Easter.  “I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Verse 11 pushes beyond the imagery of Ezekiel 34 in its reference to the shepherd’s willingness to lay down his life for the sheep. A possible OT antecedent may lie in the messianic oracle of Zech 13:7-9, in which the death of the shepherd is required so that the flock can…

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Online Sports Betting

I do not watch a lot of sports on television, live-stream or in person – the one exception: the Tampa Bay Lightning hockey team. There was a transitional exception during the recent NCAA basketball tournament, men’s and women’s. After all, one had to catch at least a glimpse of Caitlin Clark. But whatever the sports event, one can not help but notice the preponderance of sports betting…

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The Meaning

This coming Sunday is the 4th Sunday of Easter. Just before our gospel reading, in v.8, Jesus says: “All who came are thieves and robbers.” There cannot be a sweeping rejection of all OT figures – especially given that Jesus has already made references to Abraham and Moses as positive witnesses to him (5:45-46; 8:56).  Jesus is referring to the kings of Israel condemned in Ezekiel 34, but also…