Do not cut from the wine

Jesus said to his disciples, "I am the true vine and my Father is the vinedresser. The branch that does not bear fruit in me, he plucks up, and the branch that bears fruit he prunes so that it may bear more fruit. You are already purified by the words I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches; He who abides in me and I in him bears abundant fruit, for without me they can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is cast out, like a branch, and withers; then they gather him up, throw him into the fire, and he burns.

1. If we don't bear fruit, we'll be cut off.

There are many people who tend to say: I'm not that bad, I don't steal, I don't kill, etc... But we are confused, we are not going to be judged only by the bad we have done, but also by the good we have failed to do.

In the 25th chapter of Matthew is the list, I was hungry and you didn't give me anything to eat...

2. We have to bear fruit, we have to fill our lives with acts of charity.

What is the good that I have done...

3. But we have to do it in God's grace.

The good we do must be done by the grace of God, otherwise our works have no value, for they do not have the grace of God.

What are the things that don't let you bear fruit...

4. If we do good by preparing to be purified.

We don't bear fruit, because we don't allow ourselves to be pruned, God prunes us with suffering.

We are not going to be saved by warming the pew of the Church, we have to do works of charity, we have to do them by living in grace, otherwise our works have no merit and we cannot resist the tribulations that God allows to cleanse us.

He adds, And every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. He alludes here to the tribulations and trials which were coming upon them, the effect of which would be to purge, and so to strengthen them. By pruning the branches we make the tree shoot out the more