At the start of spring, I planted a few granadilla seeds from the pulp of a granadilla I ate. We have received a lot of rain this summer, and in no time, the seeds had sprouted into a few young plants. The granadilla grows as a vine, so training it is essential to keep it maintained and under control.
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| Tendrils holding the granadilla vine, 3 February 2022 |
I am currently training the granadilla vine to creep up a wooden trellis and noticed something new about this plant. The granadilla casts a tendril, a thin wire-looking line that helps the vine climb. The tendril is quite resilient and latches onto anything secure and then coils itself firmly against the object drawing the vine securely. The granadilla vine hardly needs any support to bind itself to the trellis. It continually casts new tendrils as the vine extends.
In researching more about the granadilla vine, I found that it is also commonly known as the passion fruit. The passion fruit or granadilla flower has five distinct stamens. The early missionaries in South America used this to illustrate the link to the five wounds of Jesus Christ's crucifixion.
I planted the vine initially in an area that only receives midday sun. Still, as the vine travels up the trellis, the vine is exposed to more and more light for extended periods of the day. The vine gains in height, which helps the plant absorb sunlight and energise the plant.
There is no better parable to link to the granadilla vine than the parable of Jesus the true vine. John 15:1-8 unpacks Our Lord's words, and Jesus promises the following truths:
(1) God the Father is the vinedresser, the Son is the vine, and we are the branches.
Although not part of it, a branch is connected to the central vine of the granadilla plant. As Christians, we have received our life from Jesus, the true and original vine. He is the source of spiritual nourishment, and where he leads, we follow. If we want to grow large and fruitful branches, we need to nurture our relationship with the vine at all costs.
A branch is in constant communion with the vine. We can remain in communion with the vine by making an effort to talk to Our Lord daily in prayer. If we do so, the vine transfers through the sap of the plant new energy, life, and essential ingredients to help strengthen and extend our branches.
How do we remain in communion with the vine:
a. We need to ensure our prayer is constant by dedicating the same amount of time to talk to God every day. We start out small. Still, our goal is to spend 10, 15, 20, or 30 minutes conversing with God.
b. Regular and consistent confession. We can find assistance by taking less than 3 minutes at night to look back on the day examining our conscience. Look at the things that went well, the things that never went so well, and a small resolution to do better the next day.
c. When we participate in the Mass and the act of receiving Our Lord in the Eucharist. Here we receive the true vine in flesh and blood and is the eternal food that never perishes.
(2) The branches that are one with the vine are pruned to bear more fruit, anything those branches ask will be given them, and they bear fruit to glorify God the Father (the vinedresser).
The Father in heaven prunes our branches through different trials, sufferings, and circumstances in our lives. When you prune a branch, it exposes the tender flesh of the vine, and for days afterward, the wound will take time to dry out. Eventually, the flesh wound will no longer be visible, and the branch would have grown further if not for that essential prune. As the expert of all expert gardeners, God the Father never prunes to hurt us or destroy our ability to bear fruit. He prunes only to bear virtues and bear them in abundance to be shared with others. All God asks of us is to trust Him that the pruning is always for our greater good.
Is it hard to trust blindly, though? Yes, it is! However, our Lord's first lesson comes in handy that we are the branches, and He is the vine. Any pruning on the branches is also felt by the vine. In fact, the pruning of branches enables the vine to reach new heights. Our trust is not blind when we make an effort to pray each day. Prayer helps contemplate this idea that (we) the branches are one with the vine.
To be open to pruning, we need to develop a supernatural outlook beyond the here and now and myself. Instead, we need to see God is present everywhere, in my family, workplace, shops, Church, gym, and in the places you least expect. The people God allows us to encounter are opportunities for seeing the gift of that person created in God's image and likeness. Our time taken to be one with the vine strengthens the quality of our fruits shared with all we encounter.
We share our fruits through our friendship with others. The most significant way we can give someone the fruit of our interior life is by listening attentively and with focus. When we try to hear what the other person is telling us, the Holy Spirit will often put the right words in our hearts and use us as an adequate vessel to nourish others.
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| Ant attracted to the sweetness of the branch, 3 February 2022 |
(3) The branches that bear no fruit are no longer one with the vine, and they are cut away to wither and collected to be thrown in the fire.
A branch dies for one of three reasons:
a. The branch is not getting enough sunlight.
b. The branch is not getting enough water.
c. The branch has a disease or fungus.
The branches die for very similar reasons to when we fail spiritually. Those branches that are starved of sunlight are like those that deny God (the light of the world). Branches that don't receive enough water grow limp and lifeless. This happens spiritually when we reject the good and essential life-giving water God freely gives us to quench our thirst. Instead, we indulge in things that never truly satisfy and grow spiritually weak. If a disease on a branch is not stopped in its early stages, it soon spreads throughout the plant and eventually dies. The opposite of a virtue is a vice. When we fail to recognise wrongs in our lives or our tendency to continue to fall into a particular vice, we soon become a slave to that vice.
The goal is to grow a well-maintained and neat granadilla vine guided along the wooden trellis. The branches require continuous trimming every time they tend to grow astray. The result of the continual trim will eventually be beautiful flowers that will blossom. From that, the granadilla fruit will grow.
Lent begins this Wednesday. The perfect time to look at our interior life by trimming excess time to fill it with prayer, spiritual reading, participation in the Mass, praying the rosary, and making time to examine our conscience. The fruit of nourishing our interior life is interior fruit that is not bitter, over-ripened, or a tiny morsel. Instead, our fruit will be sweet, perfectly ripe, and wholesome when we find life in and of the vine.
"The Eucharist is the heart of the Church. Where Eucharistic life flourishes, there the life of the Church will blossom." St. John Paul II
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