April 28.   5th Sunday of Easter B. Fr Brian shared a brief thought on the image of pruning the vine. “There’s no such thing as ‘I’m all right Jack,’ is there? Just when you think you’re OK there is something more that can or should be done. Don’t you find that there is a real challenge to grow as parents in your families?  Kids will tell you that it sometimes seems that God is never satisfied, and neither are you.  We have to keep on pruning as of course the vine keeps growing.  Tell them, ‘Remember, if you think you are standing still in one place you’re actually going backwards because everything else is moving forward. Just look at nature; there is always something happening, even if it is hibernating. That is where our faith and our trust in God’s love comes in. That is what we can pray for together.”    

Reflect, share, pray. I am the true vine and my Father is the vinedresser.   Every branch of mine that bears no fruit he takes away and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes that it may bear more fruit. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. John 15:1-8   Pope Francis:  “Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways   You shall eat the fruit of the labour of your hands, you shall be happy and it shall go well with you.   Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house. Your children will be like olive shoots around your table.  (Ps128) AL 8. The ability of human couples to beget life is the path along which the history of salvation progresses.  Seen this way, the couple’s fruitful relationship becomes an image for understanding and describing the mystery of God himself, for in the Christian vision of the Trinity God is contemplated as Father, Son and Spirit.   AL 11. ACTION: pray Mary, blessed wife and  mother, pray for us.