Fifth Sunday in Easter, cycle B

JOHN 15:1-8
WHO WAS THE MOST INFLUENTIAL SAINT IN HISTORY?  A LOT OF PEOPLE WOULD SAY IT WAS SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI.  TODAY THERE ARE NUMEROUS ORDERS IN THE CHURCH WHICH TRACE THEIR FOUNDING BACK TO HIM; BUT AFTER HE APPEARED ON THE SCENE THE WHOLE CONCEPT OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS IN THE CHURCH CHANGED.  BEFORE FRANCIS THERE WERE MONKS AND MONASTERIES; AFTER FRANCIS THERE WERE THE JESUITS AND THE SERVITES AND THE SULPICIANS AND THE DISCALCED CARMELITES AND THE MARYKNOLLS AND EVEN THE MISSIONARIES OF CHARITY.  THE FLOWERING OF CATHOLIC RELIGIOUS ORDERS DEDICATED TO A PARTICULAR MINISTRY IN THE CHURCH HAPPENED IN IMITATION OF THE FRANCISCANS.  THESE WERE GROUPS OF MEN AND WOMEN WHO DID NOT STAY IN ONE PLACE AS DID THE MONKS, BUT SAW THEIR MISSION AS ONE OF GOING OUT TO THE WORLD.  AND THERE ARE EPISCOPALIAN AND LUTHERAN FRANCISCANS AND EVEN FRANCISCANS IN THE EASTERN RITES OF THE CHURCH.  AND FRANCIS IS ADMIRED BY MUSLIMS AND HINDUS AND BUDDHISTS AS WELL.
SO WHO WAS THIS FRANCIS?  ONE THING WE COULD SAY ABOUT HIM IS THAT HE WAS KIND OF A FAILURE.  HE STARTED OUT WANTING TO BE A SOLDIER, BUT PROMPTLY GOT CAPTURED AND HELD FOR RANSOM.  AFTER HIS FATHER PAID THE RANSOM, FRANCIS STOLE SOME OF HIS FATHER'S CLOTH TO SELL SO THAT HE COULD HELP SOME POOR PEOPLE.  MOTIVE WAS GOOD, STEALING WAS BAD.  WHEN HIS FATHER GOT JUSTIFIABLY UPSET, FRANCIS DISOWNED HIM AND REFUSED TO RECOGNIZE HIM AS HIS FATHER.  PROBABLY NOT THE BEST WAY TO KEEP THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT.  AND FRANCIS HAD A VISION TELLING HIM TO REPAIR THE CHURCH, WHICH HE INITIALLY TOOK TO MEAN THAT HE SHOULD GO AROUND AND REPAIR CHURCHES FALLING INTO RUINS.  HE COULDN'T EVEN GET MESSAGES FROM HEAVEN STRAIGHT.  AFTER HIS ORDER WAS FOUNDED FRANCIS DECIDED TO GO TO THE MIDDLE EAST AND CONVERT MUSLIMS.  THAT MISSION WAS BASICALLY A FAILURE, ALTHOUGH THE FACT THAT HE RETURNED WITH HIS HEAD ATTACHED TO HIS NECK WAS A GOOD THING.  LATER IN HIS LIFE SOME OF FRANCIS' ASSOCIATES GENTLY EASED HIM OUT OF BEING RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ORDER, SO THAT HE WAS MORE A FIGUREHEAD THAN AN ACTIVE LEADER.  AND AFTER FRANCIS DIED THE ORDER SPLIT INTO A GROUP WHO CLAIMED TO BE FOLLOWING FRANCIS EXACTLY, WANDERING AROUND BEGGING AND HAVING NO PLACE TO CALL HOME, AND A GROUP WHO WERE IMITATING THE DOMINICANS AND AUGUSTINIANS AND CARMELITES, WHO AT LEAST HAD PLACES TO LIVE AND A REGULAR DIET.  THE POPE CONDEMNED THE FIRST GROUP WHO WRE MAKING NUISANCES OF THEMSELVES.
BUT STILL, FRANCIS IS PROBABLY THE GREATEST SAINT AFTER SAINT PAUL FOR HIS INFLUENCE ON THE CHURCH.  AND WE MIGHT ASK, WHY?  THE ANSWER IS CLEARLY THAT WHEN PEOPLE MET FRANCIS, THEY REALIZED THEY WERE IN THE PRESENCE OF JESUS.  FRANCIS WAS SO TRANSPARENT THAT HE WAS GIVEN THE STIGMATA, WOUNDS IN HIS HANDS AND FEET AND SIDE LIKE THOSE OF CHRIST CRUCIFIED; WHEN YOU LOOKED AT HIM, YOU SAW JESUS.
TODAY WE HEAR JESUS TELLING HIS DISCIPLES THAT HE IS THE VINE AND THEY ARE THE BRANCHES; HE URGES THEM TO REMAIN IN HIM, OR ABIDE IN HIM, AS OTHER TRANSLATIONS SAY.  FRANCIS HEARD THAT AND DID THAT.  AND JESUS TELLS HIS DISCIPLES THAT IF THEY ABIDE IN HIM, HE WILL ABIDE IN THEM.  FRANCIS WAS ONE PLACE WHERE JESUS ABIDED FULLY.  AND JESUS TELLS HIS FOLLOWERS TO ABIDE IN HIM FIVE TIMES IN THIS BRIEF PASSAGE, AND PROMISES THAT THOSE WHO ABIDE IN HIM WILL BEAR MUCH FRUIT.  FRANCIS IS STILL BEARING FRUIT ALMOST 1000 YEARS AFTER HE LIVED ON THIS EARTH.
SO HOW DO WE ABIDE IN JESUS?  THIS SEEMS TO BE VERY IMPORTANT FOR THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.  JESUS GIVES US PART OF THE ANSWER; HE SAYS THAT WE ARE TO ALLOW HIS WORDS TO ABIDE IN US.  FRANCIS DID THAT.  NOT ONLY DID HE KNOW THE GOSPELS, HE TRIED TO LIVE THEM..  NOT ONLY DID HE LIVE THEM, HE INVENTED THE CRECHE, TO SHOW GRAPHICALLY THAT GOD WAS INCARNATED AS A HUMAN BEING; AND HE INVENTED THE STATIONS OF THE CROSS, SO THAT EVEN THE MOST ILLITERATE HUMAN BEING COULD UNDERSTAND CHRIST'S PASSION AND DEATH.  AND AT EVERY TURN FRANCIS TURNED TO THE LIFE OF CHRIST AND THE WORDS OF CHRIST FOR GUIDANCE.
FRANCIS WAS GIVEN GIFTS BY GOD, OR CHARISMS AS WE CALL THEM, TO BUILD UP THE CHURCH.  BUT HIS GIFTS WERE NOT ADMINISTRATION, OR EVANGELIZATION, OR EVEN THE ABILITY TO PUT BROKEN DOWN CHURCHES BACK TOGETHER.  FRANCIS WAS NOT GIVEN THE GIFT OF WISDOM OR UNDERSTANDING.  BUT HE WAS GIVEN THE GIFT OF SHOWING THE PERSON OF JESUS TO THOSE AROUND HIM.
YOU AND I ARE LIKE FRANCIS.  WE ARE GIVEN GIFTS FOR THE GOOD OF THE CHURCH.  IF WE WANT TO REALLY SERVE JESUS WE NEED TO KNOW WHAT THOSE GIFTS ARE AND BOLDLY EXERCISE THEM.  SAINT PAUL NAMES ABOUT 24 GIFTS.  THERE ARE PROBABLY MORE.  SOME GIFTS ARE MEANT TO BE USED ONLY ONCE.  WE HEAR ABOUT THE EARLY CHRISTIAN ANANIAS, WHO FOUND PAUL AND CONVERTED HIM.  MAYBE THAT'S ALL THAT GOD EVER WANTED FROM ANANIAS, AND YET HIS COOPERATING WITH GOD'S GRACE WAS CRUCIAL TO THE FUTURE OF CHRISTIANITY.  OTHERS HAVE GIFTS THAT CAN BE EXERCISED OVER AND OVER.  PADRE PIO HAD SEVERAL GIFTS – YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO CONFESS YOUR SINS WHEN YOU WENT TO PADRE PIO; HE WOULD TELL YOU WHAT THEY WERE.  AND THERE ARE PLENTIFUL MIRACLES OF HEALING AND DISCERNMENT THAT OCCURRED DURING HIS LIFETIME.  BUT WE ALL HAVE A GIFT FOR THE BUILDING UP OF THE CHURCH.
WHEN JESUS TELLS US THAT WE WILL BEAR MUCH FRUIT SHOWING OURSELVES TO BE HIS DISCIPLES, I THINK HE IS TALKING ABOUT US USING OUR GIFTS IN UNION WITH THE CHURCH AND EACH OTHER.  BECAUSE WHEN WE USE THOSE GIFTS AND ASSUMING WE ARE GRAFTED ONTO THE VINE, JESUS WORKS IN US AND THROUGH US, JUST AS HE DID WITH FRANCIS.  OUR JOB IS TO ABIDE IN HIM, TO KNOW HIM, TO LOVE HIM, AND TO ALLOW HIM TO LEAD US.  THIS MEANS  THAT WE HAVE TO KNOW HIS MIND.  WE LEARN THIS THROUGH THE SCRIPTURES, THE TEACHINGS OF THE CHURCH, AND THROUGH OUR OWN PRAYER LIFE.  AND WE HAVE TO LET HIM LIVE IN US AS WELL.  THIS MEANS THAT WE HAVE TO BECOME SMALL, GIVE UP OUR AMBITIONS AND DESIRE TO CONTROL EVERYTHING, AND ALLOW HIM TO USE US.  THIS ISN'T EASY BUT IT'S POSSIBLE, AS SAINT FRANCIS SHOWED US.
SO TODAY THE QUESTION IS, ARE WE ALLOWING JESUS TO ABIDE IN US, AND ARE WE DOING EVERYTHING TO ABIDE IN JESUS?  AND ARE WE BEARING FRUIT?