Those who grow roses, especially here in the City of Roses, know how they need to be pruned in order to “blossom” at their best. What is true of roses is true of most plants: pruning brings on new life. In John 15, 1-8, Jesus mentions pruning. He suggests that in various ways God prunes our lives to make them even more fruitful than they presently are. Clearly, there are some things we may need to shed if we are to become all that God is calling us to be. What does this mean in practical terms?
Experiences of “letting go,” though painful at the time, can help us to grow, spiritually. They lead us to a new relationship with God and with others. As Jesus says, we are branches of His vine – He remains in us, and we in Him. We don’t have to face that experience of being pruned on our own, or on the strength of our own resources. The Lord, who makes His home in us will sustain us always, and will lead us through the experience of pruning into a new and more fruitful life. However, for that to happen we need to remain in Him as He remains in us.
In keeping with this theme, today we celebrate the feastday of St. Damien of Molokai. He was a Belgian priest who sacrificed his life and health to become a spiritual father to the victims of leprosy quarantined on the Hawaiian island of Molokai.
During his youth he felt a calling to become a Catholic missionary, an urge that prompted him to join the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Fr. Damien’s final vows to the congregation involved a dramatic ceremony in which his superiors draped him in the cloth which would be used to cover his coffin after death. The custom was meant to symbolize his solemn commitment, and his identification with Christ’s own death. For Fr. Damien, the event would become more significant, as he would go on to lay down his life for the glory of God and for the people entrusted to his care on Molokai.
For more, from St. Damien Parish in Kaunakakai, HI: http://damienchurchmolokai.org/wp/
