Homily:May 21, 2025, Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Easter (Pruning)

(Holy Family School Mass) “He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit,

and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.” 

Do you know what is pruning?

If you ever see a gardener or farmer carefully cutting some parts of the plants, very likely he could be pruning the plant. He is definitely not killing it!

In today’s reading Jesus tells about pruning grapevines.

Now I am not very familiar with pruning grapevines, but I do know a little about pruning tea plants from my farming experience in my childhood years.

When I was a young boy, my family had a few acres of tea plants on our farm. Every five years, toward the end of summer, we would prune those tea bushes. We carefully cut away all their leaves. Yes, all the leaves. So after pruning, the plants would look lifeless as if dead, with no leaves, nothing to admire, just bare branches and short.

Seems very cruel and crazy, isn’t it?

But then something amazing would happen soon afterward. In just a few days, new tender leaves would sprout all over the branches, very quickly the tender leaves became a strong green and would multiply till the bushes were covered full. The tea plants grew faster and healthier than before. Within just a few weeks, the entire tea plantation became vibrant green, full and lush. After the pruning, the plants seemed to die. But after a few days, they seem to resurrect and burst into new life – stronger and healthier!

That is the image Jesus uses today, not just about plants, but specifically about our lives. Jesus tells us throughout our life, God carefully prunes the areas of our life so that we can soon burst into greatness and bear wonderful, healthy and happy fruits.

But pruning can be painful, they often come in the forms of suffering, hardships, challenges, loss and disappointments which are not from our own wrongdoing. Health issues, strained relationships, spiritual dryness, emotional struggles. Our life during this time can look bare, ugly and meaningless. These are just some of the usual pains.

But if we allow God’s words to fertilize us and with prayer to nourish us during these difficult moments, very soon after, God will transform it into something dynamic, full of life, full of joy, wonderfully beautiful, bountiful and fruitful, and life-giving to everyone who sees and encounter us.

All the apostles, the early disciples, the saints, the martyrs and even Mother Mary went through this painful process.

Knowing this now, we want ask for courage and resilience. Courage to trust God when life feels barren, courage to believe that what feels like loss may actually be preparing us to bear more fruit, courage to let God work in us, even when it hurts. And the resilience to overcome this painful waiting period, believing that something greater and more wonderful will happen soon.

So let us remain on the true Vine, Jesus our Lord, and trust the loving hands of the Gardener who wants to make us burst into full life and flourish into greatness after pruning. God bless you. Amen.