CORPUS CHRISTI, TX (Catholic Online) - Jesus never used the word grace to explain the reality of divine life within the human person.  This word was first used by Saint Paul.  Instead, Jesus uses different images to describe the intimate relationship between God and the human person.  One of those images can be found in today's gospel narrative: "I am the vine, you are the branches" (John 15: 5).

The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines grace with these words:  "The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to us of his own life, infused by the Holy Spirit into our souls to heal it of sin and to sanctify it.  It is the sanctifying or deifying grace received in Baptism.  It is in us the source of the work of sanctification" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1999).

Grace is categorized into two types of grace; i.e., sanctifying and actual.  Again, from the Catechism of the Catholic Church we find the following explanation: "Sanctifying grace is an habitual gift, a stable and supernatural disposition that perfects the soul itself to enable it to live with God, to act by his love.  Habitual grace, the permanent disposition to live and act in keeping with God's call, is distinguished from actual graces which refer to God's interventions, whether at the beginning of conversion or in the course of the work of sanctification" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2000).

"I am the vine, you are the branches" (John 15: 5).

We stay connected to Jesus through daily prayer and the Sacraments.  Our relationship with the Lord grows through our assiduous ascetical life and the action of God with each individual.   The rocks and the weeds that impede growth and fruitfulness need to be removed through our active mortification and the purifications that God brings about in us.  "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.  He takes every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit" (John 15:  ).

In reality, Christianity is a continual celebration of Easter.  We are an Easter people.  Jesus has truly risen from the dead.

"The resurrection of Christ is not the fruit of speculation or mystical experience: it is an event which, while it surpasses history, nevertheless happens at a precise moment in history and leaves an indelible mark upon it. 

The light which dazzled the guards keeping watch over Jesus' tomb has traversed time and space.  It is a different kind of light, a divine light, that has rent asunder the darkness of death and has brought to the world the splendor of God, the splendor of Truth and Goodness. 

Just as the sun's rays in springtime cause the buds on the branches of the trees to sprout and open up, so the radiance that streams forth from Christ's resurrection gives strength and meaning to every human hope, to every expectation, wish and plan.

Hence the entire cosmos is rejoicing today, caught up in the springtime of humanity, which gives voice to creation's silent hymn of praise.

The Easter Alleluia, resounding in the Church as she makes her pilgrim way through the world, expresses the silent exultation of the universe above all the longing of every human soul that is sincerely open to God, giving thanks to him for his infinite goodness, beauty and truth" (Pope Benedict XVI, April 24, 2011).  

"I am the vine, you are the branches" (John 15: 5).

When the human person encounters the living person Jesus Christ; when the human person encounters mystery; when the human person experiences the transcendent; when the human person finds the treasure and the pearl of great price; when we are connected to the vine, only then will the human person be able to escape from apathy and skepticism, and become exuberantly alive with joy, peace and enthusiasm. 

Jesus is alive and we become alive, we remain alive by being united to him.

"I am the vine, you are the branches" (John 15: 5).

Today, Jesus is visible through his Church.  Today's challenge is that all those who are part of this Church must make Jesus visible to contemporary man.  This is why Pope John Paul said that "man is the way for the Church" (Redemptoris Hominis, 14.3).

If the presence of Jesus in the Church is clouded over by archaic bureaucratic forms of governance that impede communion and evangelization, then the Church will not be convincing for modern man who already is so immersed in boredom and cynicism. 

Presentations and programs do not move people.  Only something tangible and real can awaken in people a sense of astonishment.     

Currently I am finishing a great read.  A People of Hope is an inspirational and many ...