6 May 2026 – Wednesday of the 5th week of Easter
Homily
Having read almost the whole of chapter 14 of St John, we begin chapter 15 today and find the theme of ‘abiding’—so often mentioned in the previous chapter—once again at the forefront. “Abide in me, as I abide in you… Whoever abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit.”
Even though Christianity is a religion of love and communion with Jesus, the Son of God, we are constantly tempted to turn it into a religion of commandments, obligations and prohibitions. This temptation is as old as the Church itself. Paul, who was not only a Jew but a Pharisee, had been sent by Jesus to bring the Good News to the Nations, and they had welcomed his message in great numbers. Christians of Jewish origin, and particularly the Pharisees, wanted to require that converts from paganism adopt Jewish practices, especially circumcision, when they became Christians. St Paul opposed this outright, which is why he brought the matter before the Apostles when he came to Jerusalem.
What is unique to Christianity is not this or that religious practice; it is faith in Christ – a personal relationship with Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God. This faith must be expressed through one’s life, and as it is shared with many others, it must be expressed through religious acts. Many of these religious gestures through which we express our faith in Christ come from Judaism. There is no reason why this same faith cannot also be expressed through religious gestures drawn from other religious traditions of humanity. The important thing is to avoid fundamentalism, which consists precisely in regarding as essential that which is merely a relative expression of what is essential. It was against this fundamentalism that Paul stood up, and he devoted all his efforts for most of his life to defending the freedom of God’s children.
What matters is that we bear fruit – fruit of virtue and holiness. And, as Jesus Himself teaches us, we will bear fruit only if we remain in Him and if His Word remains in us. We are like the branches of a vine; and the vine is He; so that if we bear fruit, it will be His before it is ours.
During this Eucharist, let us give thanks to Him for this outstanding privilege.