"A New Season"

"Relationship" (Relational Love: part 11)

          "I am the true vine" (John 15:1). There is only one way that I can grow, "ripen" and "mature" as an intercessor: I must belong to Jesus completely, at all times. He is the one, "true" vine: The One who brings forth my true self in the context of a fervent, relational love. He promises me, "Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit" (John 15:5). All that the "vine" is and has he offers me. In the bible, the word, remain, signifies a deeply intimate and constant communion, an indwelling presence ( hence, to experience the "vine's" most intimate presence as that of his dwelling within me--(see George A. Maloney, SJ. Singers of the New Song, p.22). My first call is to a profound relational intimacy with the Lamb: A mystical union.

          Jesus desires attachment of the heart. He wants my heart to always be united to his in what one might call an "umbilical intimacy". Only then can I bear the fruit of his life for the world. This deep union is a transforming union where my old self disappears as the 'Christ-life' grows within me--as I am "being transformed into the same image from glory to glory" (2 Co. 3:18). Hidden within me, the Holy Spirit makes me one with the Lamb: "Whoever is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him" (1 Co. 6:17). His Spirit sanctifies me. He forms my heart to be a holy heart that is simultaneously attuned sensitively to the Heart of God and to the 'heart cry' of humanity. Being so 'connected' to "the vine" connects me to all of humanity in the world in what may be called a "sacred solidarity". For, it was for the purpose of the salvation of souls that the Lamb entered into the world.

          It is the "hidden life" with the "Mystical vine" that bears good fruit in my life. The hidden life is the entering into the "inner world", the interiority, of the true vine, himself: "For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3). In this passage one notes a connection between death to self and hiddenness. As this relational intimacy continues to deepen, I make choices to sever attachment to lesser things of the world and the flesh. This constant communion with "the true vine" impels me to choose more and more a willful death of my 'false self'. The hidden life continues to deepen as deeper dying takes place. As Fr. George Maloney states, "Christ's love for you is to be absorbed into all parts of your  being" (Maloney. Singers of the New Song, p. 23). The word, vine, is found within the word,divine. God has given us the extraordinary gift of His Son, "the vine", so that we can have a share in the divine (the divinity of God).    

Questions:

1)   When do I find it most challenging to remain in a constant communion with "the vine"?

2)   Am I growing interiorly in the sense of feeling more of a "sacred solidarity" with all of humanity?

Scriptures:

Any scripture from the text; Phil.1:21; Col. 2:3; 2Pet.1:4