MAY22021

I remember my mother showing me how to prune the roses. I was shocked at how severely she cut them back. If you want flowers, she told me, instead of lots of leaves and stems, this is what you must do. Jesus’ mother must have taught him the same thing for he used the image of pruning to describe the spiritual life.  God prunes us so that we will bear “more fruit. You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you.” Certainly we can think of the divine pruning as cutting off from us anything that is wrong or sinful but the pruning does not stop there. What we should cut our of our lives are all of the misplaced priorities which distract us. The word that Jesus spoke? “Stop worrying, your heavenly Father knows what you need.” One of the blessing of aging is discovering that all those things you thought you needed really are not essential to a happy life. Success, recognition, big income do not produce a life filled with joy and peace. Since Jesus is the vine, if we stay connected to the divine life flowing through him we will truly have what we are made for. Catherine of Siena put it:   “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.”