Without Me You Can Do Nothing
Fifth Sunday of Easter (B)
Read this Gospel passage aloud to the family
John 15: 1 -8 - 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.”
(Parent) Reread this part a few times aloud
“Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.”
(Parent) Read this meditation aloud to the family
There are a lot of Christians who want to get out there and do great things for God. Now for some of them, this excitement and ambition is very pure, bold, holy, and given to them by God. But for others, this excitement and ambition may be filled with a dose of pride or ignorance. According to Christ in the Gospel, it is not our excitement or our ambition, it’s not even primarily our goodness, or holiness, or love that makes us effective in spreading the Good News. It’s actually not us at all. It’s Christ. He stresses, “Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.”
If we want our Christian lives to bear fruit, to have positive results, we must always prioritize being before doing. We must make sure we pray before we act. Otherwise we might just rush off in our excitement and ambition to solve a problem that God was never asking us to solve. We might even make the problem worse. But if we first attend to our union with God, remaining in Him and Him in us, then when God does ask us to go work, we will not be going alone. We will be going in God, and God will be going in us. And there is no end to the positive results God can produce by His power. There is only one Savior, and if we want to be effective in the world, we must prioritize staying united to Him. How can we each better prioritize the Sacraments and daily prayer to help us grow in union with God?
As a family, pray a portion of the Rosary together (very short if children are young) reflecting on the Scripture passage above.(Optional: allow a brief time for discussion or questions from children concerning their thoughts and prayer.
Reminder for Parents: Pier is just meant to be a jumping off point. The real goal is that you pray & eventually use the fruits of your personal prayer as the content of your family’s prayer. Duc in altum.
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