Gospel (Jn 15,1-8) - At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: «I am the true vine and my Father is the farmer. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he cuts, and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes so that it bears more fruit. You are already pure, because of the word that I announced to you. Remain in me and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains in the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who remains in me, and I in him, bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. Whoever does not remain in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; then they pick it up, throw it into the fire and burn it. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. In this my Father is glorified: that you bear much fruit and become my disciples."

The commentary on the Gospel by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia

At the end of the long prayer during the Last Supper, Jesus asked the Father: "that they may be one, like us". That mystery of unity - the love of the Father and the Son - is the Gospel, that is, the good news that the disciples must live and communicate to the world. It is the Gospel of universal brotherhood, which finds its beginning and its culmination in Easter. In 2025, the jubilee year, we will remember the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. It could be the right moment for Christians to decide to celebrate Easter together and not only that, but also to reweave the threads of Christian unity with new impetus so that the mission of the Gospel becomes a prophecy of unity also among peoples according to the beautiful expression of the patriarch Athenagoras: “Sister Churches, brother peoples”.
Jesus, with the image of the vine and the branches, shows the prophecy of the unity of the disciples with him. Jesus gave this image to his disciples at the Last Supper, as a testament. It was often used by prophets to describe the bond of love between God and his people. That evening Jesus interprets it in a new way: the vine is no longer the people of Israel, but himself: "I am the true vine". And he immediately added: “and you are the branches”. The disciples are linked to the Master like branches to the vine. It is from the trunk that the sap reaches the branches, and they can bear fruit. Jesus' warning is simple but also very serious: "Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me."
The lifeblood that keeps the entire vine alive is the love of Jesus. Not ours. It is the communion between the Father and the Son in which we are called to participate. By grace, certainly not by merit. In fact, we are only asked to welcome this love or rather, as the Gospel passage suggests, to live in it. Six times, in eight lines, Jesus repeats: "remain in me", "he who remains in me bears much fruit", "he who does not remain in me is thrown away like a branch and withers" and is like a residue that is thrown into the fire. That evening the disciples did not understand; indeed, perhaps they asked themselves: what does it mean to stay with him since he is the one who is about to leave. Jesus used this image to remain engraved in their minds. Whoever stays to listen to the Gospel stays with Jesus and Jesus with him. In the eastern tradition there is a beautiful icon that represents it. In the center is painted the trunk of the vine on which Jesus is sitting with the Scripture open. From the trunk arise twelve branches on each of which an apostle is seated, with the Scripture open in his hands. It is the icon of the new community that originates from Jesus, the true vine. That book open in the hands of Jesus is the same one that each apostle has: it is the true lifeblood that allows us to "love not in words or with the tongue, but in deeds and in truth". And it is also the book that is in all our communities everywhere in the world. It is our vine, the only vine, with the multiplicity of branches. It is the Word of God that holds us together.
The unity of the disciples is our salvation and is the only strength to be able to bear fruit. We can be small or large branches, what matters is to welcome the sap and remain united. It is the Word of God that allows us to bear fruit. Indeed, it is the precise will of God, as Jesus repeats to us this evening: "In this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit". The words of commentary by Papias, one of the Apostolic Fathers, on this evangelical page are beautiful and can link them to the joy of Easter that the Lord makes us experience: “The days will come when vineyards will be born, with ten thousand vines each. Each vine will have ten thousand branches and each branch will have ten thousand vine leaves and each vine ten thousand bunches. Each bunch will have ten thousand grapes, and each grape pressed will give an abundant measure of wine." It is the invitation of Easter, of the Easter of this difficult year marked by the pandemic and countless conflicts and injustices. There are those who retreat and close in on themselves. For us, dear sisters and brothers, this Easter is the time of ten thousand branches and ten thousand bunches. So that our joy and that of the poor may be full.