Imagine a pair of children, one walking past an ice cream parlour, the other past a display of smartphones, both looking to their parents for the fruit of their dreams, if not their desires. What could the parents’ attitude be? Great debate! There are a number of solutions, including: responding immediately to the request, discussing to hear the unspoken message behind the request and the more authentic and undoubtedly hidden desire… Proposing a progression to receive the fruit of the expectation at a more or less distant future time… We are all familiar with the remarks, reproaches or complaints, symptoms of frustration at any delayed response, and even worse in the event of a refusal. All the more so in a world of immediacy and computer “clicks”, where the slightest objection to desire is seen as an affront to personal dignity and an obstacle to fulfillment.

We often hear that the Lord doesn’t answer our requests all that often ! And the Son tells us: ” Every branch that bears fruit, my Father purifies by pruning it so that it may bear more ” …. Trials that the disciple will undergo, and through which the Father will gradually engender him to life according to the Son. ” God scourges those who come close to Him “… says the Book of Job, a way of saying that He educates. You don’t just have to ” take off your sandals ” like Moses in the desert (Exodus 3).

The sportsman or musician, the painter or educator, all know that a long apprenticeship is necessary to free themselves from all hindrances, not the least of which are pride and laziness. AND the more the disciple is elevated in the works to be accomplished, the more he will have to stoop before his Lord and perhaps before men. Didn’t the Curé d’Ars himself say that we ” is what we are in God’s eyes “, ” humility is like a set of scales: the lower you set yourself on one side, the higher you set yourself on the other. “And the Archivist[1] of the Sanctuary on whom the Curé d’Ars must have rubbed off in the course of reading and research, to comment: “the measure God uses seems to be humility: the more humble a person is, the more favors he can shower upon him, without the risk of harming him. “… Remaining in this attitude of son towards the Father is directly based on the attitude of the Son himself towards His Father[2] and to which He leads the disciple. ” He who abides in me and I in him… bears much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing “…

To personal thirst, the world responds with self-realization… To the slightest prospect of renunciation, it responds with rebellion, if not transgression… Meanwhile, the Son leads his disciple to walk, whatever the state of the road and the spiritual weather, nourished by his abiding Word and invested with his Holy Spirit… United to the same vine with his other brother-sprouts, and trusting in the Father, all then receive unexpected fruitfulness, even to the point of being recognized as a “brother”. ” the glory of the Father “, the response that the Son proclaims for us today!

And in a land of vineyards such as Ars, which is only a few birds’ flight away, everyone knows that by bearing so much fruit, the vine is no longer distinguishable from the foot, with which it is now at one with, and where the same sap remains…. What could be better? ” you will bear much fruit

[1] Bernard PAUBEL, article: “le Curé d’Ars et l’humilité” 2023.

[2] Jn 15:10 ” If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love “.