From the Deacon's Desk

Each day, I reflect upon a word or phrase inspired by the readings of the day. I encourage you to do the same and perhaps incorporate that word or phrase into your daily prayer.

Jesus said: My Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit… (John 15:1-8)

BEAR FRUIT: The take-away from today’s gospel: We are called to bear fruit, to build up the Church.

The readings of the entire Easter season are focused on the apostles’ effort to share the good news, the joy of the Resurrection. Their actions allowed for the building up of the Church, with the number of Christians growing from those eleven men to the 2.3 billion believers in the world today.

The apostles were sent out to bear fruit, to grow the Church. They did this by sharing their personal experience of the Risen Christ.

All Christians have that same responsibility.

While that 2.3 billion number certainly sounds impressive, it is a number that has remained flat in recent years and has even declined in many areas of the world. Even sadder, our world has become increasingly more secular, with many having no belief in God at all.

So, what can we do about it? Well, for starters, we can take the directive from today’s gospel seriously. We can bear fruit by growing the church.

The manner in which we do this will be different than it was for the original apostles, but the bottom line is the same – we share our experience of Christ. We tell our story. We share with others the awe and wonder of God’s presence in our lives.

What has happened to our sense of awe? Where has it gone? Are we no longer appreciative, or even aware of God’s presence in our daily lives? Are we no longer star struck or distracted by God? Does God no longer amaze us?

Or has our sense of awe been high-jacked? Do we only experience beauty, fascination, and amazement in worldly things? Have we become that secular?

God is active in our lives. I believe He still elicits a sense of awe and wonder for us. In my heart, I know God is still relevant. I believe He is still important to people and truly impacts their lives. We simply need to share that sentiment with those around us. We need to be storytellers!