Word of the Week

5th Sunday in Easter

Abide: Menein (Gk.): meaning “abide”, or “remain”. The word can also be translated as “continue”, “dwell”, “tarry” or “endure.”

“From the beginning, Jesus associated his disciples with his own life, revealed the mystery of the Kingdom to them, and gave them a share in his mission, joy, and sufferings. Jesus spoke of a still more intimate communion between him and those who would follow him: "Abide in me, and I in you.... I am the vine, you are the branches” (Jn.15:4-5). And he proclaimed a mysterious and real communion between his own body and ours: "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him” Jn.6:56)” (CCC, 787).  

The above Greek term can be found 120 times in the New Testament. John uses it 34 times, 11 of which are found in the discourse that portrays Jesus as the True Vine (Jn.15-1-17). Consequently, the image of the vine and its branches reigns prominent in understanding what it means to make our home in Christ and abide in the life of the Trinity.

Christ develops the very rich metaphor of the vine established in the Old Testament by girding himself as the vine. In the OT, God depicted his chosen people as a vineyard (In antiquity, the vineyard was seen as a bride) planted in the field so that it might sow a plentiful harvest, but the people of God fell into transgression and produced sour grapes (Ps.80:8-16; Is.5:1-7, 27:2-6; Jer.2:21). Where Israel failed to reap a harvest as God’s vineyard, Christ reaps hundredfold as the vine and his disciples as the branches. Christ’s Church, as the body of Christ, is the new bride called to share in the reaping of the new harvest.

The metaphor of the vine and its branches constitutes Jesus’ union with his disciples and their reliance upon God for all things. Just as the vine and its branches become one living organism, so does Christ call his disciples to become one with him. Just as the vine needs to be cut back when it climbs too high and gets too big so does man need to be pruned back to the simplicity of Christ (Benedict, 260) The vine is a sign that communicates the demands of the interior life and a Christ-centered spirituality. This christocentric spirituality is realized in perseverance, patience, and a life of prayer. We must seek to constantly adhere to verse 7 in Jesus sermon on the True Vine: “If  you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you” (Jn.15:7). Let us go deeper in a life of prayer that we might go deeper into the poverty of Christ.

“If the fruit we are to bear is love, its prerequisite is this ‘remaining’ (perseverance), which is profoundly connected with the kind of faith that holds on to the Lord and does not let go.”

--Pope Benedict XVI

Primary Texts Consulted

• Catholic Bible. Suggested trans. Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition.
• Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2 nd Edition, 1997.
• Pope Benedict XVI. Jesus of Nazareth . New York : Doubleday, 2007.

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