Abiding in Christ

By Deacon Thomas Stephenson

April 29, 2018

We just heard Jesus use the word “abide” eight times in the Gospel, and we’ll hear it again three times in next week’s Gospel. So we can be sure that He is trying to emphasize His point, that this is something important for us to take to heart. We need to ask ourselves, then – how do we abide in Him, and how much do we want to do so?

What does it mean to abide? It is to live in a place, remaining there, staying there. That place would be somewhere we could call home, our abode. It implies a place of comfort, of stability and peace. A place we are connected to on a fundamental level.

Jesus wants us to be connected to Him, more deeply than a place to reside in, He tells us that He is the vine, and we are the branches. The branches receive sustenance through their connection to the vine. If a branch becomes separated from the vine, it will wither and quickly die. Like the branches, to live we need to stay attached to the vine of Christ, through which we are also joined to all of the other branches of the vine, all the other faithful believers.

One way we stay connected to Christ, abiding in Him, is through weekly attendance at Sunday Mass. Saint Pope John Paul II, in his apostolic letter Dies Domini, reminds us of the importance of, at minimum, worshipping together at Mass on Sunday. Sunday Mass is vital to our lives as Catholics. Here at Mass, especially in the Eucharist, we are offered the chance to abide in Christ, and He in us, in a most intimate way, receiving His very body and blood, soul and divinity, as nourishment. He gives Himself to us; He abides in us, that we may abide in Him. Being here, receiving Him, is an incredible gift. We should rejoice every time we can come to Mass.

Although sometimes the requirements of their jobs may prevent some people from attending, and there sometimes may be other valid reasons not to be here, every effort should be made to get to Mass at some point on Saturday evening or Sunday; there are many Masses offered at a variety of times in various parishes. Ideally, though, it’s best to be here, as part of our parish family.

If we are to abide in Him, if we are to remain as branches on the vine, we also must bear fruit. That is the purpose of the vine. Some of us will be called to bear specific fruit different from others, but one fruit we are all especially called to produce is holiness, an abiding relationship with Christ. In order for that to happen, we must cultivate it with our prayer life, and also allow the Lord to help us prune away the things in our life that take us away from Him, that inhibit our growth and interfere with our ability to bear fruit. And the pruning is continuous –St. Bernard wrote: “It is not enough to prune the vine just once, but we must commit ourselves to doing it regularly and, if possible, without ceasing”. We can strengthen our connection with Him through our adherence to His will, His word. Jesus told the disciple that they had already been cleansed by the word the He had spoken to them. His word can help us to recognize where pruning is needed in our lives. Like the disciples, we, too, can be cleansed if we listen to His word and act on it.

We also know that our connection to the Lord can be weakened or broken by our culture. This not just a problem with our current time; it has always been the case. Even in the first century, St. Paul wrote: “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” But we are so immersed in it these days, ideas and concepts counter to our faith are so prevalent, it takes a real effort to keep our focus where it belongs, on Christ. We cannot isolate ourselves from the rest of the world, but we can choose where we will abide, and that should be an easy choice for us.

The choice becomes easier if we know our faith. Our lives are busy, but in addition to our time for prayer, we should also be making time to read books that will help us learn more about our faith. We don’t learn just for knowledge; we learn so that, in knowing, we may grow closer to God. Our prayer and our reading should bear fruit in us, and in our parish community.

Do we want to abide in Christ? I would guess that all of us would say yes. But, do we really want to do what is necessary to abide in Him? Abiding in Him will at times be difficult for us. Through our own weakness, our connection to Him may not always be as strong as it should be. In today’s second reading, St. John tells us “Whoever obeys His commandments abides in Him, and He abides in them.” We may not always obey His commandments, but we should be trying with all our heart to do so, and repenting and going to confession when we fail.

We should strive to remain always in Christ, to abide in Him. Not only through our own efforts, for while we must do our part, our fruitfulness comes from Him. It is up to us to allow God to draw us to Him, to prune us, to feed us as branches on the vine. So let us ask the Lord to sustain us and protect us until that time when we abide with Him in heaven forever.