holding each other up

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 every one 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."

Jn 15:1-8

Jesus is the vine, we are the branches. 

Have you ever looked at the way branches grow out from a vine? 

They intertwine with one another - and thus support each other - they hold each other up. 

They hold each other up. 

Why is that so hard for us to do with each other? 

Why do we continue to allow ourselves to be torn apart by divisions? - Here, I don't mean the divisions between different Christian denominations, although we could talk at length about those, too. 

I mean the divisions within the Catholic Church. Because yes, they do exist. Divisions within our dioceses, divisions within, and between, our parishes. The gossip. The petty infighting. The labeling. For a group of people who share the same beliefs, we often do a pretty pathetic job of being united as brothers and sisters in Christ - as branches growing out from our Vine, Jesus. 

No two branches are identical, just like each of us, and our communities, are unique. We spend far, far too much time quibbling over the differences between each of them, and not enough time noticing that WE'RE ALL GROWING FROM THE SAME ROOT - the same branch - the same Christ.

In the times in which we live, with the challenges facing the Church (particularly in the United States), there is no place for these divisions. We need to get over ourselves, and get together. Maybe we'll find out that those in our parishes, at other parishes, or even in other dioceses, whom we have been labeling, or gossiping about, or in some sense, leading our own crusades against - really aren't that different from us at the end of the day (gasp!!!!), regardless of what we may have heard through the proverbial "grapevine" (funny how well that fits in here, isn't it?). 

I have to make the requisite comment that, obviously, there will be times when we'll find real and unfortunate differences between members of the body of Christ - those should be occasions for prayer, and good catechesis as appropriate, but not excuses to desert those with whom we have those differences. In my own experience, though, I have found that more often than not, the divisions we believe to exist, really only exist in our heads. It's high time that we got out of that mode of thinking. 

Sure, it's easier said than done - but if we, as Catholics, want to effect true cultural change of any kind, we had better be united.

Think about it.  

+Peace, and all good. 

Another pic from the week past... and yes, I'll tell you all about where I took these pics soon: