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17 May 2017

Vine and embers

Fr Sean narrated an interesting analogy of the gospel about vine and the branches, using a story.

There was a Jewish woman who had stopped going to the synagogue.  After a few days of her continued absence, the Rabbi visited her at her home.  When invited inside, both of them silently sat at the fireplace for a long time.  After a while, the Rabbi picked up a tong and from the burning fire picked out a burning ember and placed it outside the fireplace on the stone floor.  At first the ember glowed brightly because there was nothing else around it so bright.  However, after a while it began to fade out and soon died out.  The fire from which it was pulled out continued to burn with intensity.

Our christian faith has a strong communitarian dimension. While each one is exhorted to deepen one's own spiritual life, the witness that we live out is primarily as a faith community.  Besides the witness value, the community also offers each one a supporting and encouraging presence.  All the more true of a religious community!

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