Fifth Sunday of Easter - B May 14, 2006

Acts 9: 26-31 1 John 3: 18-24 John 15: 1-8

One of the facts of growing older as, perhaps, too many of us know, is that there is a greater difficulty dealing with change in our lives. We are set in our ways. We like the way our feet fit into comfortable old shoes. One of the realities of life, however, is that time marches on and change is inevitable. The marvel of the human spirit, and of nature itself, is that we not only adapt to change, we can often embrace it, improve from it, grow from it.

As a Church, both world-wise and locally, these last 13 months or so have seen significant change for us. After more than 25 years of the pontificate of John Paul II we have gone through the transition to Pope Benedict XVI. So far this transition has proven to be neither what some had hope for nor what some had feared. I have found Pope Benedict XVI to be a fascinating study. Whereas John Paul could be viewed as having been a philosopher on life, on the dignity and value of humanity and of being human, Benedict XVI is more of a theologian, who is calling us to grow in the understanding of our faith in God and its impact on our lives and living. He clearly started this with his first encyclical in which he reminded us that above all we are to understand God as love, and our lives in God as an experience in love in all its dimensions.

Monday, as a Diocese, as a local church, we will experience a major change as well. After over 25 years of the episcopate of Bishop Pilla, Bishop Lennon will be installed as the 10^th bishop of the diocese. It is reasonable to expect, I believe, that there will be differences in style, differences in leadership, differences in challenges that Bishop Lennon will face and which we will face under his leadership and guidance. The extent of those differences and they will effect us is to be seen. Perhaps the greatest wisdom at this point is to acknowledge the gift of the Holy Spirit to us as Church. The Spirit often works in mysterious and unexpected ways. As Pope Benedict has shown, what precedes is not necessarily what will follow.

What we are experiencing as Catholics in the world and in this diocese, however, is a living illustration of what God’s Word addresses to us today. The early community of the Church, those who lived and worked with Jesus, were introduced to and welcomes one who had experienced the Lord differently than they had. Paul was the same one who had once persecuted them. Now he was speaking out boldly in the name of Jesus. The grace of the Holy Spirit was calling upon that early church community to receive and accept someone new and different. Paul was to prove to be the most influential proclaimer of the message of Christ.

John the apostle encourage us by reminding us of a basic element of our belief and understanding as Christians. He tells us that God is greater than our minds and hearts. God’s knowledge is beyond our understanding. But we can be confident of God’s presence with us. We can demonstrate that confidence by reflecting God’s love for us by a genuine love for one another as Jesus directs and commands us - and as the early Church community was doing by embracing Paul.

The reality of what we are as Church is illustrated in the description Jesus gives of the vine and the branches. Grapes, the fruit or product of the vine, do not grow on the vine, but on branches of the vine. That which feeds the branches, that which allows for the growth of the fruit, is the life and vitality which travels first through the vine to the branches. The life of the Church, the Body of Christ that we are, the fruit of life in Christ, is carried into the world and into our daily lives by us, who are the branches.

Whether we are guided world-wide by the pope, or locally by our bishop, how the reality of the life of the Church, our life as believers, comes into worlds in which we live, in our families, neighborhood, school or work, through us, through our living and acting the love of God in the world.

We come here, we gather here at this Eucharist, to be nourished by the presence of God in the Body and Blood of Christ we receive. We are to go forth from here, alive, growing, ever changing. We carry on the branches of Christ that we are the fruit of our experience of God’s love with us and in us today.