Today's Gospel presents Jesus at the Last Supper, at the moment when he knows that death is near. His "hour" has come. He is with his disciples for the last time, and so he wants to impress upon their minds a fundamental truth: even when he is no longer physically among them, they can still remain united to him in a new way, and thus bear much fruit. We can all be united to Jesus in a new way. If, on the contrary, one of them were to lose this union with him, this communion with him, he would become barren, or rather, harmful to the community. And to express this reality, this new way of being united to him, Jesus uses the image of the vine and the branches and says: "Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches" (John 15:4-5). Through this figure, he teaches us how to remain in him, to be united with him, even though he is not physically present.

Jesus is the vine, and through him—like sap in a tree—the very love of God, the Holy Spirit, is transmitted to the branches. That's it: we are the branches, and through this parable, Jesus wants us to understand the importance of remaining united to him. The branches are not self-sufficient but depend entirely on the vine, in which is the source of their life.

The same applies to us Christians.

Implanted in Christ through baptism, we have freely received from him the gift of new life; and we can remain in vital communion with Christ. We must remain faithful to our baptism and grow in friendship with the Lord through prayer, daily prayer, listening to and being docile to his Word—reading the Gospel—and participating in the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Reconciliation.

If someone is intimately united to Jesus, they benefit from the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which—as Saint Paul tells us—are “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal 5:22). These are the gifts bestowed upon us if we remain united to Jesus; and consequently, a person so closely united to him does much good for their neighbor and for society—this is a Christian. Indeed, in these attitudes, one recognizes whether someone is a true Christian, just as one recognizes a tree by its fruit. The fruits of this profound union with Jesus are marvelous: our whole being is transformed by the grace of the Spirit: soul, intellect, will, feelings, and also the body, for we are a unity of spirit and body. We receive a new way of being; the life of Christ becomes our own: we can think like him, act like him, see the world and things with the eyes of Jesus. Therefore, we can love our brothers, starting with the poorest and most suffering, as He did, and love them with His heart and thus bring into the world fruits of goodness, charity and peace.

Each of us is a branch of the one vine; and all together, we are called to bear the fruits of this shared belonging to Christ and the Church. Let us entrust ourselves to the intercession of the Virgin Mary, so that we may be living branches in the Church and bear consistent witness to our faith—consistency of life and thought, of life and faith, precisely—aware that all of us, according to our particular vocations, participate in the one saving mission of Christ.

Homily of Pope Francis

for the 5th Sunday of Easter

May 3, 2015