From the Gospel according to John, 15:1–8.
Jesus said to his disciples: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit. You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”
Remaining in Christ
How easy it is to fall into the trap of thinking that our love depends on our own strength, our good intentions, or whether the other person responds the way we expect. But today Jesus reminds us: “without me you can do nothing.”
He is the Vine, and we, as husband and wife, are two branches called to remain attached to Him. It’s not enough to stay attached to each other. If we stop nourishing ourselves from the love of Christ, our love slowly weakens, dries up, and starts relying only on human effort. That’s when expectations, demands, and disappointments begin to take over.
The Father, like a good gardener, also prunes our marriage. Sometimes that pruning comes through hardships, illness, personality differences, children, or simple exhaustion. At first, those things can feel like losses. But when we live them united with Christ, they become opportunities for our love to be purified of selfishness, pride, and false security. God doesn’t prune us to make us suffer; He prunes us so that our love can bear more fruit.
Remaining in Christ means making Him the center of our married life: praying together, receiving the sacraments, listening to His Word, and seeking His will before our own. Then we stop fighting against each other and begin fighting together for our marriage. The abundant fruit Jesus speaks about isn’t just outward achievements. The first fruit is a marriage where patience, forgiveness, tenderness, hospitality, and self-giving continue to grow. A marriage like that proclaims the Gospel without needing many words, because it makes God’s love visible.
Applied to Married Life
Matthew: Today what really struck me was when Jesus said, “whithout me you can do nothing.” I realized that so often I try to make our marriage work by relying only on my own effort.
Rose: I do the same. And when I stop leaning on the Lord, I become more impatient and start expecting you to be the one who needs to change.
Matthew: And the hard times… I used to see them as signs that we were failing. But today I understand they can also be God’s way of pruning us so we can love each other better.
Rose: Exactly. If we go through those moments united with Christ, instead of driving us apart, they help us grow in love and become even closer.
Matthew: So instead of asking God to take away our problems, maybe we should ask Him to help us remain united to Him.
Rose: That’s it. Because if we’re both connected to the Vine, we’ll naturally be more connected to each other.
Mother,
Keep us close to your heart, so that we may always remain in the heart of your Son. Blessed are you, our faithful Mother.