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HOMILIES

BRANCHES

Today’s homily is based on John 15:1-8.

Branches have stories to tell and lots of lessons to teach.

branch

The one year I lived in London, there was a tree outside my room window that I got to know pretty well. I used to sit before that tree, prayer book or coffee mug in hand. In the spring and summer, its abundance of leaves virtually blocked any view of the world outside. But with its seasonal shedding of leaves always came a sad but lovely gift: the widening glimpse of the autumn and winter sky in the open spaces between its branches.

Today’s Gospel reading about the vine and its branches made me think of that tree and the stories its branches told in the different seasons I had seen it through. If we could, as the Lord suggests in the Gospel, think of ourselves as branches, what stories would they tell? Would your life here and now be better symbolized by a branch heavy with leaves or freed of them? Would you think of the season in your life right now as a branch blossoming with flowers or bearing fruits? If you pause and examine your life, maybe you’ll catch a glimpse of the sky between its branches.

I can think of four types of branches that can represent seasons in our lives, each one with both an invitation and a temptation. If you look at your life here and now, which type of branch would it be?

A branch full of leaves: This is the type of branch we usually imagine on a tree–a branch heavy with leaves. Our childhood drawings of trees always had leaves; in fact, the branches of the trees we sketched were usually invisible, hidden behind their leaves. Throw in a few flowers blossoming among the leaves, and you end up with the prettiest possible branch.

A branch full of leaves and flowers represents a season of sunshine and spring, when the sky is cloudless and the bluest of blue, and when everything is proceeding as well as it should. If all is well in your life right now, and you’re actually enjoying it, then this is the branch for you. The invitation is to savor each moment, making sure to pause, listen to the rustling of the leaves and count every leaf, every flower on the tree.

There are two dangers when we’re going through such a season: to rush away and miss enjoying all this completely–or to want to cling to them, worrying about how long they’ll last and in the process, also miss the gift of the present moment.

A branch bearing fruits: This branch stands not so much for an enjoyable life, but a fulfilling one, a time in our life when all our hard work is paying off, and after all the toil and all the wait, we are now finally reaping the rewards.

Fruit-bearing branches remind us to be grateful, to give thanks to God for seeing us through and giving us the needed resources and support to accomplish what we needed to accomplish. The best expression of gratitude is to share the fruits we are enjoying with others and to resist the temptation to keep every single one of them to ourselves, hoarding them, or just boasting about them.

A branch hiding nests: There is a third kind of branch that I think can also stand for our lives. We have the branch that, no matter what state it is in, is nursing nests. Sometimes hidden behind the leaves of a tree is a precious nest, where a bird broods over her eggs or feeds her young in hiding.

Maybe we’re at a point in our lives when our life is devoted almost entirely to mentoring others, helping them to find themselves, or to raising children or caring for a loved one who is ill. There can be no more selfless season in our lives: We are called to a generosity that we sometimes don’t even realize we are capable of, but often we end up surprising ourselves.

The temptation we face here is our natural resistance to the prospect of an empty nest. There will come a time when we need to let go of whoever or whatever it is that we have been entrusted to nurse. Because we have invested so much in them, we are reluctant to set them free. But there is no better time to remind ourselves that we have never meant to be an end in ourselves in the first place, but merely invited to remain a means.

A branch bare with leaves: Finally, we come to the saddest state of any branch, a branch that has been stripped completely of its leaves. The empty branches of autumn have often been used to symbolize a time of loneliness and loss. We have known such times, when things aren’t quite going so well in our lives. The loss of leaves calls to mind times when we have suffered losses ourselves: the loss of a loved one, of a valued dream, of meaning in life.

Bereft of leaves, with neither flower nor fruit, we stand alone; even our nests are empty. At such times, we can’t help feeling that we have lost our self-identity and self-worth. We begin to question who we are and what we’re worth. The danger in going through such a season is despair. But as we know, it’s also the best time to remember that we are, after all, just a branch, and like all the other branches, we belong to a tree, which is the source of our nourishment and the source of our lives. It’s so easy to forget this basic connection to the tree when our branches carry so many things.

This may well be the “pruning” that the Gospel talks about, and as our Lord reminds us today: He is the Vine; we are but the branches. The autumns of our lives remind us to cling to the Lord, and more than ever, to rely on Him. For me, this is the most important message of our Gospel today. It is an often-forgotten truth because of the leaves, flowers, fruits, and nests that often clutter our lives.

We are just the branch, but our Lord Jesus–He is the tree.

Image: From ethanshowtodraw YouTube Channel

42 replies on “BRANCHES”

Hi Fr Johnny!
I would like to add another and more depressing image of the branch in autumn; and that is the branch that has died, detached from the tree, fallen to the ground, and rots. But I would like to believe that the branch that become rotten returns back to the earth, becomes fertilizer and gives nutrient to the tree, and becomes one with the tree. I would like to end up that way someday; to die and be one with Christ. Thanks for this gift of hope.
May the Good Lord bless you always fr Johnny!

Such a wonderful reflection. It’s SPRING in Montreal now. I marvel on seeing the trees bursting with signs of new life after months of seemingly barren trees standing firm at the ground dancing with the winter negative degrees yet on freezing rain days you would also marvel at seeing the branches coated with snow and ice. What a beautiful creation God has created for us to commune with Him.

Fr. J I marvel at how you find God in ordinary things like in a song or in a tree branch. May God also gift me with the grace to see Him in the ordinary hum of daily life.

Mercy

Fr Johnny, good morning. Your wonderful article made me pause and reflect. It seems my life is a combination tree right now – lots of leaves, lots of fruits and 1 or 2 nests. Thank you for helping me see this ! I feel a sense of deep joy right now because of your enlightening words. Happy Sunday !

I am 74.
All of a sudden, my seemingly leafless and fruitless life has meaning…I realize with deep gratitude that Jesus has never left my side these 74 years…through all the seasons of my life! He IS the Tree.

Very often these days, I feel like giving up. Burdened by so many things that are not in my control.
“We are just a branch, our Lord Jesus is the tree”
This a timely reminder.

This is so apt. I have been in all stages and been in the saddest stage. It was very humbling and yet very inspiring because I can see and feel the leaves growing back again. This will give me an opportunity to cherish and enjoy the blessings I am receiving. This will also give me another chance to nurture relationships and help people who need my help. Furthermore, this time of my life will make me appreciate my life and lead it according to what my heart desires and follow the path that God will lead me to take. Tha nk you very much.

Yes! Just like in winter, when everything seems dead…you find tiny shoots coming out in spring and what was once “dead” BECOMES alive and this time, with new leaves and colorful flowers bloom…some do not survive the winter tho.

Dear FrJ,
A wonderful homily in reflection I think I am in the Autumn phase of my life. It will be winter soon with no more leaves to make me appear as I was before but as you said it will be the time when I will clearly see and feel that I belong to a tree which is sustaining my life. Thank you Father for the enlightenment. God bless

Fr. Johnny, thanks for this very profound reflection. Since your Triduum talk at MTQ, you never stop stirring my mind and heart. Surely this reflection is a message I will carry through the week and years. God bless.

The sudden passing away of a friend came as a shocking news to me a few weeks ago. I can’t help but think of how life was when she was still around. It reminded me of how fragile life can be, that nothing lasts in this world forever, that God is the source of all things, the giver of life and is in control of everything. We are nothing without Him.

And if only we can remember this always–our lives would be so different. Another image about our intimate connection to God that I really like is God as a dancer and we His dance. We exist only because God continues to dance us. 🙂

As what today’s Gospel has said, all of us at one time or another had gone through all the stages of life just like what the branches had gone through during its cycle of life. And during each phase whether we are experiencing a significant uptrend or an upsetting downtrend as we face life’s struggles, we need to always remember that the Lord is with us every step of the way. We may be feeling happy or downtrodden depending on which stage of existence we are in, but we should always ask for his guidance, for like the branches which depend on the tree itself for well being, we need God for spiritual nourishment as we continue to hurdle and withstand every challenge this ever changing world has to offer.

Thank you, Father Johnny! 🙂

Thank you for this homily Fr. J. I love it. I am in the second cycle of my life where i’m a branch hiding nest. I’ve been a branch bare with leaves before this. Now i understand. Again, thank you!

Cheers,
Arnel

ps I just saw the image attribution. It represents your reflection so well, I thought it might be your original art!

I love gardening. So, I love how Mary Magdalene mistook the resurrected Jesus for the gardener. Maybe she was not mistaken after all! So I love this reflection and connect to it!

The painting is so beautiful too. Who is the painter? Are you the painter in words and images too? 🙂

Where I am, it is spring – following a record winter — so the leaves are just budding and flowers are budding too. It is a beautiful time and today, Sunday, was the most beautiful day of the season so far. So this gospel and reflection are so timely.

Like you, Fr. Johnny, I look at trees year round, but noticed something more in the winter. Winter and the bareness of trees is not sad for me. It was in winter that I realized the beauty of what lies beneath the leaves and that every tree is different. The branching structures and shape tendencies are different from species to species and then within species, from each unique tree to tree. What I realized in looking at bare tree branches is that a tree has one calling – one thing it does, not matter what. . . that is to reach outward and upward towards the sun. While all our lives have seasons, that one truth does not change. Essential to who we are and being true to our nature, is to look up and reach out that way! I guess, the “Vine” – God in and with us – is Who moves us/branches to do reach upward to the Giver of all life and outward to others.

Your reflection is beautiful, thanks for spurring my own reflection.

Thank you for this wonderful reflection today! This reminds me to constantly pray and be thankful for whatever comes my way..

Thank you Fr. J for the reminder, that whatever state we are in, what is important is we never forget our source, our Vine, our Lord. May God continue to bless you and your work. We miss you! 🙂

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