Recently, I coincidently (but I don’t believe in coincidences) picked a small book from my bookshelf. It was by Fr. Wilfred Stinissen (one of my favorite writers) titled: Bread That is Broken. It’s only 100 pages, and I have underlined about a quarter of them. I spent more time reflecting on them than reading them. I probably have reviewed it here sometime in the past. But then today I read Fr. Stinissen’s daily meditation:
Speaking Concretely
There is really nothing that doesn’t somehow speak of God. This is one of the things that makes the Bible such a wonderful book. The Bible portrays God’s presence and activity in everything, in the simplest events and the smallest details of life.
“I am the vine, you are the branches,” Jesus says. “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5). This is a very simple image that even a child can understand, while, at the same time, opening inexhaustible perspectives. A more intimate unity than the one between the vine and its branches can hardly be imagined. The branches are really part of the vine. If a branch refuses to be connected to the vine it is no longer a branch, but only a dry piece of wood, but the vine also needs the branches in order to bear fruit. If there are no human beings to receive God’s work of salvation, his work remains fruitless.
The branch doesn’t have to worry about whether it bears fruit or not; it has no need to investigate whether the flowers bloom and the fruits have the opportunity to ripen. The only thing the branch has to do is make sure it stays united with the vine. Then the fruits will come on their own when the time is ripe.
The truth about our life in God is as simple as the words Jesus uses to describe the image of the vine and the branches.
I suppose I could write pages of commentary and reflections, but Fr. Stinissen says it concretely.
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