I am sure that many of us remember the story of Robert Hansen, the former FBI agent who was convicted of being a spy for the then Soviet Union.  Hansen seemed to have everything going for him; a beautiful wife, good children, a promising career. He even lead the FBI investigation that caught another traitor, Aldrich Ames.  He was a convert to the Catholic faith, involved with Opus Dei, went to Mass nearly everyday, and Confession monthly.

    Robert Hansen seemed to be a model American and a good Catholic.  How could he not only betray his country, but did so in a way that led to close to a dozen people getting killed overseas?  How could he throw away his family’s future, his professional reputation, and his freedom? It wasn’t for a lot of money -- the Soviets paid him less than a $1 million.  He basically told investigators after he was caught that he tended to put people and things into boxes; that he lived his life in a disconnected manner.

    In today’s first reading we heard about someone whom the early church looked on as someone who could not be trusted, someone who had caused the arrest of many of their members, and assented to at least one killing of a disciple of Jesus.  Of course I am talking about Saul, who would become better known as St. Paul. As we know, it was when Saul was taking his persecution of Christians to Damascus that he encountered the Risen Christ, who said that persecution of His followers was the persecution of He Himself.  After that Saul was converted, baptized, and started preaching the faith in Damascus.

    In today’s first reading, now known as Paul, he has traveled to Jerusalem to join the Church there, but he was getting the cold shoulder; at least until Barnabas took him under his wing and vouched for him.  He was then quickly accepted, and his preaching was so effective, it made Paul now a target for the very persecution that he helped to start there in Jerusalem.

    But why did St. Paul feel the need to be accepted by the Church in Jerusalem?  Because he understood what Jesus said in today’s Gospel about the vine and the branches.  Jesus’ metaphor teaches us that He is the source of life; both physical in terms that He created the heavens and earth, and spiritual since He is “the way, the truth, and the life.”  No one can get to heaven on their own, they can only get there through Jesus Christ.

    A branch cannot thrive if it is cut away from the vine. It needs to have a consistent connection with the life-giving vine. The same is true in our spiritual life.

We need to have a consistent and ongoing connection with the Lord. Such a connection happens through the Church. The Church is the way we remain connected to Jesus Christ.

As Pope Francis said, "We are not isolated and we are not Christians on an individual basis, each one on his or her own, no, our Christian identity is to belong! We are Christians because we belong to the Church.....There are those who believe they can maintain a personal, direct and immediate relationship with Jesus Christ outside the communion and the mediation of the Church. These are dangerous and harmful temptations. These are, as the great Paul VI said, absurd dichotomies." (Pope Francis, General Audience, Wednesday, June 25, 2014)

The Church provides that connection to Jesus Christ through the celebration of the Sacraments, the proclamation of God's Word, programs of faith formation, opportunities to engage in works of mercy and compassion, and above all through the celebration of Sunday Mass.

In our day, more and more people seem to be drifting away from the Church, drifting away from the place where the connection is made between Jesus, the life-giving vine, and the individual Christian.  Jesus reminded his followers that the only possible way for us to live our lives is when we abide in him, the true vine. Apart from the vine of the risen Lord, we may grow wild, but we will not bear fruit.  When that connection is broken, as Jesus tells us, the branch withers and dies.

The fool in the Bible has always been the one who thinks that he or she can live life unconnected.  The fool has no need for a vine, a connectedness with a community, a world, a God. The fool believes that he or she is the vine, not a branch to something larger in life.  The fool forgets that the Lord is the vine and we are the branches.

Some commentators of our time have said correctly that the greatest pain that we suffer from in our “me” generation is the pain of loneliness.  We think that we can live life unconnected. We think that we are vines and that everything that matters begins with “me.”

It is strange that while people understand the necessity of consistent and constant effort to master music, to learn a foreign language, or to improve their health, many people fail to see that same necessity when it comes to remaining strong in their relationship with Christ and his Church.

When we receive the Body of Christ today let us remember that we are the branches and the risen Lord is the true Vine.  We don’t need to be alone anymore.

"Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit... Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither."