Episode 15: Jesus Remains in us | The Word of the Lord with Fr. Rector

Father Rector shares his reflection on the Gospel (John 15.1-8) for the Fifth Sunday of Easter. He mentioned: “Jesus uses the image of the vine and branches to relate the truth that belonging to him guarantees us life and life eternal…God in the person of Jesus never wants us to be separated from him, like the branches are attached or connected to the vine: Jesus, being the vine is the constant source of life and nourishment of the branches…”
Martin and Lemon Tran share how they have experience pruning in their lives. Martin said: “The Word of God is like a pruning tool, if we listen to it, we allow God to prune ourselves…sometimes we have conflict, we have argument…but I remember, Jesus said that ‘you need to love one another as I have loved you…’ So, I need to do something…I decided to be the person to apologize first…and then happiness of my family is recovered…”
Lemon said: “I grew with him…I never said that [‘sorry’] as a single person…And the fruit that we get from those tests and challenges [pruning] are our happiness and strengthening our bond as husband and wife; and we will do that for our daughter; she will see whatever we are doing and she’s going to do the same thing…so that it becomes the fruit of the fruit in the future…”
When asked of any recommendation how we can remain connected to the vine, they named the following: (1) We need to keep communicating with Him through prayer. (2) Seriously take Communion, thinking what we are receiving, and taking it with all the heart, and just think that Jesus abides in us. (3) After the Mass, go out there and live with others dealing with conflicts, challenges the way Jesus think.
Watch and listen! Be inspired. Be blessed with Martin and Lemon’s reflection and sharing!