5th Sunday of Easter Year B Homily

We cannot allow ourself to become secluded.

Seclusion runs rampant within our culture. Families go their own way to eat a meal. With work, school, and sports it is easy for the family to become too busy to spend quality time with one another. Husband and wife grow apart due to being unable to find mutual time with each other despite living within the same home. Truly we live in a world which claims to be connected thanks to the use of smart phones and social media, but in all actuality this is not so.

We are very much so in need of community. We need the community which is the family to build one another up to strive for the pursuit of holiness in everyday life. We need the community of friends to help one another be pure and blameless in the sight of the Lord. We also cannot forget about the importance of the community which is the Church.

It is a growing trend for people to claim that they are spiritual, but not religious. This is an absurd statement because we are in need of the institution which is the Church. Not only are we in need of the Church, but the Church was also established by Christ. If Christ established the Church then who are we to reject the importance of such a wondrous gift. Yet despite the gift of the Church we so often seclude ourselves from being receptive of the graces which are poured out upon the faithful from here. I am referring to the gift of the Sacraments such as Confession and the Eucharist. I am referring to the gift of sacramentals such as the rosary, crucifix, and brown scapular to name a few. I am referring to assisting at the Mass.

To assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass on every Sunday and Holy Day should be a priority in our life. To assist at Mass joins us with the community of believers and joins us to Christ to whom our attention is pointed. How sad is it to see those who have lost sight of the importance of this obligation. Coming when it is convenient which means that something else has been placed over their relationship with God. We cannot allow ourself to become too busy to make time for the Mass. We must remember that to honor the Lord’s Day is a commandment and thus the Church calls us to assist at Mass on each Sunday and Holy Day. To fail to do this without a just cause such as bad weather or being sick would be a serious sin and is something which should be taken to confession before receiving communion.

Our Gospel told us about the importance of bearing good fruit. If good fruit is to be bore then it must remain upon the vine. Without the vine to supply nutrients the fruit would wither and die. The same can be said of us because if we allow ourself to become secluded from the vine we also will wither and die. The family should become the vine which forms one another after the pursuit of holiness in everyday life. Friends should become the vine which supports one another and guides each other towards the truth of the Gospel. The Church is the vine that we need most of all for from this vine grace is poured out to us which gives us the strength to love and serve the Lord our God. Let us thus remain upon this vine and from it to be sent into the world to bear good fruit.