Paradise trap
Jn 15:1-8. I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.
Every branch that does not bear fruit in me, he cuts off. And he purifies the one that bears fruit, so that she may produce even more of it. You are already purified by the teaching I have given you.
Abide in Me as I remain in you. Just as the vine cannot bear fruit of its own accord unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.
[media=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P0-D85kTQks]
I am the vine and you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit, for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he will be thrown off like branches and wither.
They are collected, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in Me and if My teaching abides in you, ask, and everything you desire will be granted.
For by this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and are my disciples.
In Jerusalem, the disciples did not believe in Saul's conversion because they remembered his persecutory actions. They did not yet know about the forgiveness and love of Saul by Jesus, who cleansed and justified him.
When we look at others, we often judge them superficially. We forget that God loves them. If we knew how much, we would have the courage to love them.
The branch that bears fruit is cleansed, pruned and tied to a stake. A man who begins to bear fruit spiritually is pruned in what is uncontrollable, erroneous and sinful in him.
Finally, he is tied to his cross, as if a gardener returned a detached fruit to an orphaned branch and miraculously grafted it back on.
Branches that do not bear fruit are cut off, thrown away and burned. A man who does not bear the fruits of conversion falls away from God and is consumed first by the fire of anger and lust, and then by the fire of hell.
Fruiting is decisive. Is your life bearing fruit or are you living fruitlessly? But what is this fruit? This is not the fulfillment of your dreams or desires, self-fulfillment, success.
The Bible says that when Adam and Eve took fruit from the tree of knowledge, they made paradise a trap, a sinister thicket, a dark jungle that became a trap for them.
Fruit without connection with the tree rots. A man without a cross dies senselessly. The first parents, hiding from God, lost sight of Him and He became inaccessible to them.
The more we try to fill our lives with everything but God, the more our frustration and disappointment become. Life is fruitful when we have evidence of conversion to God.
Just as a flower that announces fruit turns towards the sun, so the human heart, when it begins to look for light in God, announces the future fruit.
Saint Paul says, “For the fruit of light is all righteousness and righteousness and truth. Search what pleases the Lord. And have no part in the unfruitful works of darkness” (Eph 5:9–11).
Before his conversion, Charles de Foucauld constantly repeated a short prayer: "God, if you exist, make me know you!" Was it pleasing to God? Of course, that is why the time came when his prayers bore fruit of conversion.
He accepted the cross of loneliness, from which he had been running away all his life, losing himself in passionate sins.
Let's imagine a garden with many trees. When people visit it, they only look for trees that have flowers or fruit, others are ignored.
People sense a praying person and someone who does not break away from the wood of his cross, because only such a person is to them someone as pleasant as the aroma of a flower and as nutritious as the flesh of a fruit.
Similarly, God seeks out among people those who are already distinguished by the aroma of prayer and those who already have a taste of similarity to Jesus. Not only people are looking for a saint, he is also constantly desired by God.
Every branch that does not bear fruit in me, he cuts off. And he purifies the one that bears fruit, so that she may produce even more of it. You are already purified by the teaching I have given you.
Abide in Me as I remain in you. Just as the vine cannot bear fruit of its own accord unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.
[media=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P0-D85kTQks]
I am the vine and you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit, for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he will be thrown off like branches and wither.
They are collected, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in Me and if My teaching abides in you, ask, and everything you desire will be granted.
For by this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and are my disciples.
In Jerusalem, the disciples did not believe in Saul's conversion because they remembered his persecutory actions. They did not yet know about the forgiveness and love of Saul by Jesus, who cleansed and justified him.
When we look at others, we often judge them superficially. We forget that God loves them. If we knew how much, we would have the courage to love them.
The branch that bears fruit is cleansed, pruned and tied to a stake. A man who begins to bear fruit spiritually is pruned in what is uncontrollable, erroneous and sinful in him.
Finally, he is tied to his cross, as if a gardener returned a detached fruit to an orphaned branch and miraculously grafted it back on.
Branches that do not bear fruit are cut off, thrown away and burned. A man who does not bear the fruits of conversion falls away from God and is consumed first by the fire of anger and lust, and then by the fire of hell.
Fruiting is decisive. Is your life bearing fruit or are you living fruitlessly? But what is this fruit? This is not the fulfillment of your dreams or desires, self-fulfillment, success.
The Bible says that when Adam and Eve took fruit from the tree of knowledge, they made paradise a trap, a sinister thicket, a dark jungle that became a trap for them.
Fruit without connection with the tree rots. A man without a cross dies senselessly. The first parents, hiding from God, lost sight of Him and He became inaccessible to them.
The more we try to fill our lives with everything but God, the more our frustration and disappointment become. Life is fruitful when we have evidence of conversion to God.
Just as a flower that announces fruit turns towards the sun, so the human heart, when it begins to look for light in God, announces the future fruit.
Saint Paul says, “For the fruit of light is all righteousness and righteousness and truth. Search what pleases the Lord. And have no part in the unfruitful works of darkness” (Eph 5:9–11).
Before his conversion, Charles de Foucauld constantly repeated a short prayer: "God, if you exist, make me know you!" Was it pleasing to God? Of course, that is why the time came when his prayers bore fruit of conversion.
He accepted the cross of loneliness, from which he had been running away all his life, losing himself in passionate sins.
Let's imagine a garden with many trees. When people visit it, they only look for trees that have flowers or fruit, others are ignored.
People sense a praying person and someone who does not break away from the wood of his cross, because only such a person is to them someone as pleasant as the aroma of a flower and as nutritious as the flesh of a fruit.
Similarly, God seeks out among people those who are already distinguished by the aroma of prayer and those who already have a taste of similarity to Jesus. Not only people are looking for a saint, he is also constantly desired by God.
51-55, F