Faith and Its Consolation

Living and Moving in Christ

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.” (Jn. 15:1)

The first consolation of faith comes from knowing we live and move and fulfill our existence in the presence of God. Jesus teaches us in ways that are simple, accurate and touch the heart. He often uses images that everyone can identify quickly. Of course, we know what a vine is, but do we? Have we ever been a vine or been part of one? Jesus challenges us to apply what is naturally true for a grape to yourself. We understand that the grape cannot indeed produce its delicious fruit apart from the vine. 

Jesus became a man to have us share his Divine life. When we give ourselves to grace and faith, we remain united with him in love, thru the Holy Spirit. What does it mean, as we sit before the Eucharist, sit in our homes alone, walk among our contemporaries or persevere in trials with our adversaries, to “abide in me?” It means to experience, comprehend and live those life experiences with the whole fiber of our being “in him.”

Right, no one knows how each of us experiences “abiding in Christ,” or “remaining in Christ.” No one would deny that it is the Christ that we “live and move and have our being.” That is the Father’s gift to us in Christ “he has given us the wisdom to understand fully the  Mystery, the plan he was pleased to reveal in Christ.” 

The Father is the vine grower: “I believe in one God, the Father the Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.” This Creator, Our Father, creates us to be in his Son, “before the world began.” 

What more could the Father want for us than to have us in his Son for all eternity, yet that is what we are the “children of God.” Even though the world does not recognize us the Father’s promise is eternal, and he will carry out his promises for “those he foreknew he predestined to share the image of his Son; those he predestined he called, those he called he justified and those he justified he glorified.” There is only one thing we should fear the most, and that is not believing in the words the Father gave to us in Christ. Our faith is our eternal life, and that is the work that we have been given “to believe in the one he has sent, Jesus Christ.”