CATHOLIC FAITHWATCH: “[Jesus is the Vine, We Are the Branches;] Pope Benedict XVI, Fifth Sunday of Easter, Regina Caeli 2012” – VaticanVa

“… Jesus said to His Disciples, ‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser’ … The True Vine of God, True Life, is Jesus who with His Sacrifice of Love gives us Salvation, opens to us the way to be part of this vine. … as Jesus remains in the Love of God the Father, the Disciples too, wisely pruned by the Word of the Master … if they remain profoundly united in Him … become Fruitful Branches that bear an abundant Harvest. St Francis de Sales wrote: ‘The vine-sprig, united and joined to the stock, brings forth fruit not by its own power but in virtue of the stock. … we are united by charity unto our Redeemer as members to their head, and hence it is that … good works, drawing their worth from Him, merit Life Everlasting” (Treatise on the love of God, XI, 6). * * * … each one of us is like a branch that only lives if its union with the Lord grows every day in prayer, in participation in the Sacraments and in charity. … Let us pray to the Mother of God that … all our actions may have their beginning and end in [Jesus].”

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