In today’s Gospel from St. John, Jesus tells His disciples that He is the true vine and they are the branches. And, He warns them, “Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me … Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.”
When we look at today’s Gospel, we see Jesus as the Shepherd at work. He came to free those held captive to sin. He rescued the sick, the infirmed, and the demon- possessed from the predator s that were stealing life from them.
The Emmaus story captures the excitement of the earliest followers of Jesus realizing that “the Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon.” But their recognition of Him was gradual, having walked along beside Him some distance, as He taught them the true meaning of the prophecies they had heard all their lives.
oday we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday. Sr. Faustina Kowalska, a Polish nun, was God’s instrument to proclaim Divine Mercy toward every human being. Sr. Faustina was inspired by a vision in which Jesus told her that a painting should be made of his image with the invocation "Jesus, I trust in You."