“I am the true vine and my Father is the vinedresser… Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me” (John 15: 1, 4).
Jesus strongly affirms that divine grace and redemption are made available to the one living in Him, who is grafted onto Him.
Only branches attached to the vine will live and bear fruit. We cannot receive the tiniest grace – power – except through Christ’s mediation, even as the tiniest drop of sap cannot reach a branch which is detached from the tree.
O Sweet Jesus, You have willed to graft me onto You as a branch is grafted onto a vine, so that I live entirely by this union with you. Grant that my soul may become increasingly united with You, ever closer to You, so I may receive continuously the sap of grace which You produce in me, Your branch.
