＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊ 

Acts 9:26-31

 When Saul came to Jerusalem,

He tried to join the disciples there, but they were afraid of him because they could not believe that he was a dis­ciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He recounted to them how Saul had seen the Lord on his way and the words the Lord had spoken to him. He told them also how Saul had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.

 Then Saul began to live with them. He moved about freely in Jerusalem and preach­ed openly in the name of the Lord. He also spoke to the Hellenists and argued with them, but they wanted to kill him. When the believers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

 Meanwhile, the Church had peace. It was building up throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria with eyes turned to the Lord and filled with comfort from the Holy Spirit.

 

Ps 22:26a-27, 28, 30, 31-32

I will praise you, Lord, in the assembly of your perple.

 

＊＊＊ 2nd Reading ＊＊＊

1 John 3:18-24

My dear children, let us love not only with words and with our lips, but in truth and in deed.  Then we shall know that we are of the truth and we may calm our conscience in his presence. Every time it reproaches us, let us say: God is greater than our conscience, and he knows everything.

 When our conscience does not condemn us, dear friends, we may have complete confidence in God. Then whatever we ask we shall receive, since we keep his commands and do what pleases him.

His command is that we believe in the Name of his Son Jesus Christ and that we love one another, as he has commanded us.  Whoever keeps his commands remains in God and God in him. It is by the Spirit God has given us that we know he lives in us.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

John 15:1-8

I am the true vine and my Father is the vine­grower. If any of my branches doesn’t bear fruit, he breaks it off; and he prunes every branch that does bear fruit, that it may bear even more fruit.

You are already made clean by the word I have spoken to you; live in me as I live in you. The branch cannot bear fruit by itself but has to remain part of the vine; so neither can you if you don’t remain in me.

 I am the vine and you are the branches. As long as you remain in me and I in you, you bear much fruit; but apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not remain in me is thrown away as they do with branches and they wither. Then they are gathered and thrown into the fire and burned.

 If you remain in me and my words in you, you may ask whatever you want and it will be given to you. My Father is glorified when you bear much fruit: it is then that you become my disciples.

 

 Gospel Reflection：

Read:Jesus refers to himself as the true vine while those who follow him are the branches that bear much fruit. Attached to him, the True Vine, the branches will continuously bear much fruit. And they will be His disciples who can ask anything they want from the Father because their lives glorify the Father. 

 Reflect: We have been grafted to Jesus by virtue of our baptism. We are His branches. That is why we need to be conscious of our attachment to Jesus in order to take advantage of the nourishment such relationship brings.

Our vigor and fruitfulness come from Him. We are mere conduits of Christ's fecundity. And so, awareness and the capacity to receive the nourishment that comes from the vine is dependent on our relationship with Him.

Being baptized is not enough. We need to cultivate a deep and loving relationship in order for us to receive the spiritual nutrients that make our lives bear much fruit. And so, being close to Christ is not a problem.

We already are grafted to Him by baptism. Rather, we need to check the quality of our relationship with him. For those who are close only by proximity but affectively distant cannot expect to live a life of fruitfulness.

 Respond: We are God’s branches here on earth. We ought to bear fruit for the world; fruit such as good works and holiness in order to transform the world. Have we been fruit bearing branches or weak branches devoid of produce? We can question ourselves now and exert effort to become fecund branches henceforth.