21 May 2025 - Wednesday of the 5th week of Easter
Homily
Having read chapter 14 of Saint John in its entirety, today we begin chapter 15, and we find once again in full evidence the theme of ‘abiding’ so often evoked in the previous chapter. ‘Abide in me, as I in you... He who abides in me, and I in him, he bears much fruit.’
Even though Christianity is a religion of love and communion with Jesus, the Son of God, we are constantly tempted to turn it into a religion of commandments, obligations and prohibitions. This temptation is as old as the Church itself. Paul, who was not only a Jew but also a Pharisee, was sent by Jesus to bring the Good News to the Gentiles, and they welcomed his message in great numbers. Christians of Jewish origin, and particularly the Pharisees, wanted to require converts from paganism to adopt Jewish practices, in particular circumcision, when they became Christians. Saint Paul was absolutely opposed to this and this is why he provoked the Apostles to examine this question when he came to Jerusalem.
Christianity is not about this or that religious practice; it is about faith in Christ - a personal relationship with Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God. This faith must be expressed through life, and as it is shared with many others, it must be expressed in religious gestures. Many of the religious gestures by which we express our faith in Christ come from Judaism. There is no reason why this same faith cannot also be expressed through religious gestures from other religious traditions of humanity. The important thing is to avoid fundamentalism, which consists precisely in considering as essential what is only a relative expression of what is essential. It was against this kind of fundamentalism that Paul spoke out, and for most of his life he devoted all his efforts to defending the freedom of God's children.
The important thing is that we bear fruit - fruit of virtue and holiness. And, as Jesus himself teaches us, we will bear fruit only if we abide in Him and if His Word abides in us. We are like branches on a vine, and the vine is Him, so that if we bear fruit, it will be His before it is ours.
During this Eucharist, let us give Him thanks for this great privilege.