Rev. Fr. (Dr.) Osmond Anike

Readings:

First Reading: Acts 9:26-31 – Barnabas explained how the Lord had appeared to Saul on his journey

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 21(22):26-28,30-32 – You, Lord, are my praise in the great assembly

Second Reading: 1 John 3:18-24 – The commandment of faith and love.

Gospel: John 15:1-8 – I am the vine, you are the branches.

The allegory of the vine is a frequent theme in the OT where Israel is described as God’s vine. In using this allegory however, Jesus now becomes the vine and the Father is the vinedresser who prunes the branches. The branches are the disciples (and by extension, everyone who follows Christ). However, the life of the branches depends on being attached to the vine. He says: “Cut off from me you can do nothing”. To understand the magnitude of this statement, let us see it this way: A man bought a car, and while driving it, made a “discovery”. Because he was known and described as “fast and furious”, he felt that the manufacturers of the car were stupid in fixing brakes to the car. The brakes always delayed his movements and he could not drive as fast as he wanted. To “solve” this problem, he decided to disconnect the brakes so that he could drive faster. True to his “ingenuity”, the car moved faster; but then lost control and crashed. One might say that this was a very stupid thing to do. Yes. But come to think of it this way. God is the brake in our lives. But most of us have disconnected God from our lives, and we are now moving fast. However, where do we think we are heading to?

Our world is a fast-moving world. We often see God as too slow and as an obstacle to our fast movement. Alas, many have relegated God to the background. God doesn’t seem to matter anymore in so far as we feel we have sufficiently advanced in science and technology. God is only considered as an anecdote in history. Simply put, we feel we can do without God. And we consider people who call on God for help as incompetent. There was this young surgeon who was in the habit of reciting a prayer before performing an operation. On one occasion, he was due to operate on a rather nervous lady. As usual, he began with a prayer: “Lord, guide my hands. If it is your will, let me heal this woman…” Hearing this, the nervous patient jumped off the table and hurriedly made for the door. “Where are you going?” asked the surgeon in some wonder. “To find a more capable doctor”, answered the woman. “I dare not risk my life at the hands of someone who has to seek the Lord’s sanction each time he lifts the scalpel”.

See what I mean? To allow a surgeon who prays before operation to operate on you is to take a risk. See how the modern man has expelled God and taken over. God can go to blazes in so far as we have economic and technological advancement; in so far as we can bulldoze our way into political offices in disregard to the wishes of the masses; in so far as we can commit all sorts of atrocities and get away with it. We rejoice and celebrate our “success”. But come to think of it. Why is it that despite all this advancement we are still not happy? Why do we still feel insecure? Something obviously is wrong somewhere. There is a missing link somewhere. There is a judge within, and that judge is the conscience, as John tells us in the second reading. Our conscience condemns us daily even though we pretend that nothing is amiss. We might think that we can do whatever we want and get away with it. But that tiny thing called conscience keeps condemning us. It is only when we become at peace with our conscience that we can become at peace with the world. But to become at peace with the world, we must bring God back to our world because, without God, all our efforts come to nothing.

Saul learnt this lesson the hard way. He wanted to achieve greatness without God just as many of us aspire to do today. But he was soon humbled and brought down to his knees. He retraced his steps though, and decided to seek God. Shall we be as opportune as he was? Who knows? But now that we still have the chance, we better fix up that brake in our lives before we head for disaster. God is our brake, and without him, we can do nothing.