1. The grapevine changes water in its root into grapes in
its fruit. "If anyone does not
abide in Me, he shall be cast outside as the branch and wither; and they shall
gather them up and cast them into the fire, and they shall burn ." John 15:6
2. The Divine 'Vine' changed water into wine at Cana. John
2:1-10
3. Later the Divine 'Vine' changed wine into His Precious Blood at the
last supper. Matt 26:27-28
4. Therefore, water is changed into the Blood of
Christ.
5. As long as the branch is attached to the 'Vine' and bears 'fruit'
it will be spiritually nourished by the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
6. A
branch that bears fruit is one who believes in Jesus Christ and who keeps His
Commandments.
7. What did Jesus mean when He said "Abide in Me"? The answer
to that question can be found in John 6:56:
"HE WHO EATS MY
FLESH AND DRINKS MY BLOOD, ABIDES IN ME AND I IN HIM."
It is the "true presence" of our Lord in the
Holy Eucharist, the food provided by the vine, so that eternal life is imparted
into each and every branch and which allows the branches to bear fruit.
Elucidation...
1. "Truly, truly, I say
to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have
no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, has eternal life, and
I will raise him up at the last day." John 6:53-54
"The Sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between His feet,
until He comes to whom it belongs. To Him shall be the obedience of nations. He
tethers His ass to the vine; His ass's colt to the choicest vine. He washes His
garments in wine, his robe in the blood of grapes." Gen
49:10-11
Elucidation...
1. The
'Sceptre' is a prefigurement of Jesus Christ. "But of the Son, Thy Throne, O
GOD, is forever and ever, and a 'Sceptre' of equity is the 'Sceptre' of thy
kingdom." Heb 1:8
2. The wine and the blood are prefigurements of the Last
Supper changing of wine into his Blood, and of our sins being washed away by the
Blood of Christ.
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