Fifth Sunday of Easter

Mass Celebrated by Archbishop Denis Hart
at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne,
on Sunday, 14th May, 2006, at 11.00am

Introduction

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Jesus invites us to remain in him so that his words will shape our life.  For centuries people waited for Jesus to come, the true vine onto which we can be grafted.  Each of us is touched by his love and are members of the Church, described by Pope Paul VI as “a mystery, a reality imbued with the hidden presence of God”. 

It was in Mary, the Mother of God, that our Saviour came to us.  At the end of Mass we will have the crowning of Our Lady’s statue as a reminder that being followers of Jesus, Mary is our perfect model and she prays with us and for us.

Let us call to mind our sins.

Homily

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In a series of written lectures Saint Robert Bellarmine wrote at the end of the sixteenth century defining the one and true Church as “The community of people brought together by the profession of the same Christian faith and joined in the communion of the same sacraments under the government of the legitimate pastors and especially the one Vicar of Christ on earth, the Roman Pontiff.”

We profess one faith, we have communion in the sacraments and submit to our legitimate pastors.  Today Jesus describes himself as the true vine and God the Father as the vine dresser.

As I go down the road to the Mornington Peninsula in a short time I will see the green taken off the vines by the careful process of pruning. 

Indeed, an Australian gardening guru, Sabrina Hahn, recommends listening to Tchaikovsky when pruning grapevines.  “There are two main methods of pruning – cane and spur; and both require you to remove the majority of growth, so it’s in with the sleeves rolled up and the 1812 overture playing in the background!”  Such a vigorous pruning is not merely whacking away.  It is an almost surgical science about where and how to cut.  This is the real art of pruning that first must be patiently learned and then continually practised. 

Jesus’ own words are challenging.  “Every branch in me that bears no fruit he cuts away.  You are pruned already by means of the word I have spoken to you.”  “Make your home in me as I make mine in you.  If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask what you will and you shall get it.”  These words of Our Lord remind us that he is always there for us and we need to explore the extent of the love that he has for us. 

This is why the Church is a communion.  A participation in the love which Jesus has for his Father and seeks to fulfil his will is shown by our oneness with Jesus and acting in accordance with his will.

Pope Benedict said in his recent Encyclical, God is Love, “Acknowledgement of the living God is one path towards love.  The ‘yes’ of our will to his will unites our intellect, will and sentiments in the all embracing act of love.  But this process is always open-ended; love is never finished and complete; throughout life it changes and matures and thus remains faithful to itself.  To want the same thing is the answer of the love story between God and man.  This communion of wills increases in me a unity of thought and sentiment and thus our will and God’s will increasing coincide.  God’s will for me is no longer something alien or imposed.  It is now my own will based on the realisation that God is in fact more deeply present to me than I am from myself.  We are invited to give ourselves to the Lord and in doing that we will bear the fruit that he wants of each of us.”

+ Denis J. Hart,
Archbishop of Melbourne.