Daily Mass Gospel Reflection- The Fact in Dying

Word on Fire Ministry ^ | 5.1.24 | Bishop Robert Barron

[MurphsLaw]

John 15:1-8

Friends, in our Gospel passage today,
Jesus declares that he is the vine and we are the branches,
adding that
“anyone who does not remain in me
will be thrown out like a branch and wither.”

It’s odd that we accept this sort of language very easily when it comes to our bodily health,
while we balk at it when it comes to spiritual or supernatural health.
Doctors and health specialists can say, with a clarity and matter-of-factness,
that certain practices and behaviors are absolutely essential
if one wants to maintain physical well-being.
Unless you eat a balanced, nutritious diet, you will get sick and unfit.
If you smoke, drink to excess, and never exercise,
your body will become unhealthy,
and if these practices (or negligences) become exaggerated, you will die.
It just isn’t that complicated.

Jesus is not engaging in charming poetic imagery.
He is laying out the spiritual facts.
The spirit is a living thing, and it derives its life from the vine.
If, therefore, you are separated from the vine,
you will die spiritually;
you will stop living a supernatural life.
And it’s just not that complicated.

[MurphsLaw]

+++Jesus said to his disciples:
“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.”+++

[AnAmericanMother]

The Knox translation:

1 I am the true vine, and it is my Father who tends it.
2 The branch that yields no fruit in me, he cuts away; the branch that does yield fruit, he trims clean, so that it may yield more fruit.
3 You, through the message I have preached to you, are clean already;
4 you have only to live on in me, and I will live on in you. The branch that does not live on in the vine can yield no fruit of itself; no more can you, if you do not live on in me.
5 I am the vine, you are its branches; if a man lives on in me, and I in him, then he will yield abundant fruit; separated from me, you have no power to do anything.
6 If a man does not live on in me, he can only be like the branch that is cast off and withers away; such a branch is picked up and thrown into the fire, to burn there.
7 As long as you live on in me, and my words live on in you, you will be able to make what request you will, and have it granted.
8 My Father’s name has been glorified, if you yield abundant fruit, and prove yourselves my disciples.

[MurphsLaw]

Bringin it to life !!!
Just Like in the Vine!...

Thanks !!

[AnAmericanMother]

I’m very fond of the Knox translation - he was a polymath genius and translated the entire Bible on his own - fluent in Hebrew, Greek & Latin. He also wrote mystery stories. :-)

[MurphsLaw]

RSVCE, and the DR... for me personally
Always hankered to get a Knox.
I think you may have just inspired me !!
And I'm in a spot right now where I can use it!!!

[AnAmericanMother]

Yes, I have both of those (I guess I'm a Bible hoarder!) There is a site on line with the Vulgate, Douay, and Knox versions side by side.

But there's nothing like holding a book in your hands and turning actual pages!