Pope Francis at Mass with Over 10,000 says "Jesus is the vine, we are the branches...faith in Jesus, the bond with Him does not imprison our freedom but, on the contrary, opens us to welcome...God's love" FULL TEXT in Venice

Pope Francis presided at Mass in St. Mark's Square in Venice, Italy.
On Sunday, April 28th about 10,500 faithful gathered in the city's St. Mark's Square for Holy Mass with the pope.

VISIT OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS TO VENICE

HOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER

V Sunday of Easter Time, 28 April 2024

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Jesus is the vine, we are the branches. And God, the merciful and good Father, works with us like a patient farmer so that our life is full of fruit. For this reason, Jesus recommends us to safeguard the priceless gift that is the bond with Him, on which our life and our fruitfulness depend. He insistently repeats: «Remain in me and I in you. […] He who remains in me, and I in him, bears much fruit" (Jn 15:4). Only those who remain united with Jesus bear fruit. Let's focus on this.

Jesus is about to conclude his earthly mission. At the Last Supper with those who will be his apostles, he gives them, together with the Eucharist, some key words. One of them is precisely this: "stay", keep the bond with me alive, remain united to me like the branches to the vine. Using this image, Jesus takes up a biblical metaphor that the people knew well and that he also encountered in prayer, as in the psalm that says: «God of hosts, return! / He looks from heaven and sees / and visits this vineyard »(Ps 80,15).

Israel is the vineyard that the Lord planted and that he took care of. And when the people do not bear the fruits of love that the Lord expects, the prophet Isaiah formulates an accusation using the parable of a farmer who tilled his vineyard, cleared it of stones and planted vines. prized expecting it to produce good wine, but instead it only produces unripe grapes. And the prophet concludes: «Well, the vineyard of the Lord of hosts / is the house of Israel; / the inhabitants of Judah / are his favorite plantation. / He expected justice / and behold bloodshed, / he expected righteousness / and behold the cries of the oppressed” (Is 5,7). Jesus himself, taking up Isaiah, tells the dramatic parable of the murderous tenants, highlighting the contrast between God's patient work and his people's rejection of him (see Mt 21:33-44).

Therefore, the metaphor of the vine, while it expresses God's loving care for us, on the other hand warns us, because, if we break this bond with the Lord, we cannot generate fruits of a good life and we ourselves risk becoming branches dried. This is bad, becoming dead branches, those branches that are thrown away.

Brothers and sisters, against the background of the image used by Jesus, I also think of the long history that links Venice to the work of the vineyards and the production of wine, to the care of many winemakers and to the numerous vineyards that have sprung up on the islands of the lagoon and in the gardens between the streets of the city, and to those who engaged the monks in producing wine for their communities. Within this memory, it is not difficult to grasp the message of the parable of the vine and the branches: faith in Jesus, the bond with Him does not imprison our freedom but, on the contrary, opens us to welcome the sap of God's love, the which multiplies our joy, takes care of us with the care of a good winemaker and makes sprouts grow even when the soil of our life becomes arid. And many times our heart becomes dry.

But the metaphor that came from the heart of Jesus can also be read by thinking of this city built on water, and recognized for its uniqueness as one of the most evocative places in the world. Venice is one with the waters on which it stands, and without the care and protection of this natural setting it could even cease to exist. Our life is like this too: we too, having always been immersed in the springs of God's love, have been regenerated in Baptism, we have been reborn to new life by water and the Holy Spirit and inserted into Christ like the branches in the vine. The sap of this love flows within us, without which we become dry branches that do not bear fruit. Blessed John Paul I, when he was Patriarch of this city, once said that Jesus "came to bring eternal life to men [...]". And he continued: «That life is in him and passes from him to his disciples, as the sap rises from the trunk to the branches of the vine. It is a fresh water that he gives, an ever gushing source" (A. Luciani, Venice 1975-1976. Opera Omnia. Speeches, writings, articles, vol. VII, Padua 2011, 158).

Brothers and sisters, this is what matters: remaining in the Lord, abiding in Him. Let's think about this, for a minute: remaining in the Lord, abiding in Him. And this verb - to remain - should not be interpreted as something static, as if it wanted tell us to stand still, parked in passivity; in reality, it invites us to get moving, because remaining in the Lord means growing; always remaining in the Lord means growing, growing in the relationship with Him, dialoguing with Him, welcoming His Word, following Him on the path to the Kingdom of God. Therefore it is a question of setting out on a journey after Him: remaining in the Lord and walking, setting out on the journey behind him, let ourselves be provoked by his Gospel and become witnesses of his love.

This is why Jesus says that whoever remains in Him bears fruit. And it's not just any fruit! The fruit of the branches in which the sap flows is the grape, and wine comes from the grape, which is a messianic sign par excellence. Jesus, in fact, the Messiah sent by the Father, brings the wine of God's love into the heart of man and fills him with joy, fills him with hope.

Dear brothers and sisters, this is the fruit that we are called to bear in our lives, in our relationships, in the places we frequent every day, in our society, in our work. If we look at this city of Venice today, we admire its enchanting beauty, but we are also worried about the many problems that threaten it: climate change, which has an impact on the waters of the Lagoon and on the territory; the fragility of buildings, of cultural heritage, but also of people; the difficulty of creating an environment that is on a human scale through adequate tourism management; and also everything that these realities risk generating in terms of frayed social relations, individualism and loneliness.

And we Christians, who are branches united to the vine, the vineyard of the God who cares for humanity and created the world like a garden so that we can flourish in it and make it flourish, how do we Christians respond? By remaining united with Christ we will be able to bring the fruits of the Gospel into the reality we live in: fruits of justice and peace, fruits of solidarity and mutual care; careful choices to safeguard the environmental heritage but also the human one: let's not forget the human heritage, our great humanity, the one that God took to walk with us; we need our Christian communities, our neighborhoods, our cities, to become hospitable, welcoming, inclusive places. And Venice, which has always been a place of meeting and cultural exchange, is called to be a sign of beauty accessible to all, starting from the least, a sign of brotherhood and care for our common home. Venice, a land that makes brothers. Thank you.

Source: Translation from Vatican.va