“I AM the vine,
you are the branches.” Christ addressed
these words to his disciples who now include us. They
spell out how
our relationship with Christ is. We are actually nothing
without him.
We need to be with him if we want to be what he wants us
to be and
what we ought to be. May it be that we always would feel
the need to
be united with Christ and always do something about it.
Earlier, he
said: “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.”
(cfr. Jn 15,1-8)
It’s worthwhile
to take note of the cutting of branches
that do not bear fruit, and the pruning that God does on
the branches
that bear fruit. While it is God who does these cutting
and pruning,
we actually also have a part to play in those acts. We
need to do some
cutting and pruning in ourselves to do away with useless
things and to
trigger more fruitfulness in our things that are already
bearing
fruit.
And we need to
realize that these cutting and pruning
should be a regular thing to do, since it is undeniable
that there are
things in us that would simply cease to bear fruit and
therefore
should be cut away, and things that can still be more
fruitful if we
would just prune them to remove the outdated and
ineffective style and
practices and give way to new and updated styles and
practices attuned
to the current circumstances.
Of course, we
just have to make sure that we don’t cut
what we are supposed to prune only, and vice-versa. Thus,
it is
important that we be discerning in distinguishing between
what is
essential and non-essential in our spiritual life,
between what is of
absolute and permanent value and what simply has a
relative and
passing value.
This can mean
that there are certain old things that we
have been keeping and practicing for years that we now
may have to
discard since they have become irrelevant and
ineffective, and other
old things that we still need to keep since they are
always necessary,
irrespective of the changing circumstances.
To be
discerning in this matter would certainly require a
lot of prudence that in turn requires study,
consultation,
experimentation, etc. We really need to be patient in
going through
this process, but that, to be sure, would be all
worthwhile. Let’s
hope that we do not get daunted by the effort it requires.
Especially
these days, when there are so many and rapid
developments, we really need to go through this business
of cutting
and pruning if only to make us adapted to the changing
environments.
Otherwise we would be left behind, failing to evolve with
the world in
general. Of course, we have to understand evolution here
as a
homogeneous one, not a heterogeneous one where we cease
to be human
and Christian.
While it is
true that according to the Book of
Ecclesiastes, nothing is new under the sun since God in
the end is in
control of everything (cfr. 1,9), things in life go
through endless
variations that would always give us the sensation that
we are always
confronted with new things.
We cannot deny
that in our digital world today, there are
many moral and ethical issues that need to be resolved
yet, and we
just cannot blindly apply the laws, standards and
criteria of
yesteryears to what are taking place these days. At the
very least,
they need to be fine-tuned, or to be more nuanced to
capture what the
Holy Spirit is telling us about what to do with these
issues brought
about by the new developments.
The cutting and
the pruning should be under the guidance
of God and carried out as a common effort of everyone,
according to
each one’s expertise.
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