"I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing." (Jn 15:1-8)

"Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth." (1 Jn 3:18-24)

"When Saul arrived in Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple." (Acts 9:26-31)

This weekend's readings jumped out at me because I had a very unique experience this last week that I am excited to share with you.

It was a kind of unique way of bringing these scriptures to life. These scriptures that are brought to life here at Saint Paul on a daily basis, for the Lord is working in our midst. He is producing abundant fruit. But, sometimes in those unique experiences, scriptures like this come to even greater clarity. And for that, I'm excited to share.

This last week, I spent a few days with some priests that I was on sabbatical with. It was an opportunity for us to renew the friendships that we had formed during that sabbatical, and it was also an opportunity for us to kind of touch base and see how things were going in our life. Because we all desired this extended time away, not simply to be a kind of a break that, then we return, but rather the beginning of something new in our lives and in our priesthood, in our ministry.

It was a real honor for me, to, if you will, break bread with them and to share what the Lord was doing. We gathered at the shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, in Hanceville, Alabama a beautiful location, a beautiful shrine in honor of the Blessed Sacrament. Founded by Mother Angelica, the founder of EWTN. And they're served by the Poor Clare Nuns who continue in a cloistered religious life, to pray on behalf of the entire church.

During our time there, one of the priests mentioned that there was a community nearby called Cenacolo. It was a community of men who were recovering addicts, mostly drug addiction, but also alcohol and other forms of addiction. And he invited us to go visit the community. And I confess, there was a part of me that that struggled in that, because when I think of a time away and a break, just fully honest, visiting, a drug rehab program is generally not on the top of my list of things to do for a break.

So there was this internal struggle. But I had heard about the program, and there was an element of curiosity. So, we all agreed to go. And what I experienced was absolutely amazing. Something I'm still processing. This community was founded in 1983, by a sister now known as Mother Elvira, a Catholic sister in Italy. Just seeing the devastation of drug abuse in the lives of young people, and wanting to do something about it. Believing that our Catholic faith can help bring healing. And without any formal qualifications, she began in the formation of one house to welcome these young people to a to a community, to an experience of Christian community with the belief that this would be a means of healing and freedom in their life.

Now, 40 years later, the community is present in 20 countries and has 72 houses, four in the United States, three in Saint Augustine, one in, Hanceville, Alabama. As we gathered for lunch with these men, it was their time of manual labor. They work eight hours a day of manual labor on the property, just simply believing in the healing power of work, the value of labor. 

And so they were working in various groups. The property is immaculately maintained, as you might imagine. As we gathered for a very simple lunch, the spirit of fraternity was evident. I didn't feel at all that I was in any type of drug rehab program. I felt like I was in an intense experience of Christian community.  encountered something profoundly authentic. I felt that I was on holy ground. That sense of let me take my shoes off, for God is presence in my midst. During the lunch, three of the men of the 15 or so who are in residence there shared their testimony, how they commit to live in community for three years, how they, pray a holy hour every day, three rosaries a day, eight hours of manual labor.

And how without any psychologists or counselors they encourage one another through fraternal correction. Through helping their brothers see the things they have to work on in their life. Their vulnerability to one another, their openness and docility to correction was something profoundly humbling. Three of the men shared their own testimonies. Those moments where they were absolutely lost, moments of homelessness and losing everything that they had, the devastation of family relationships and the new hope that they had encountered in Christ and in this community.

And as I heard these men share their life stories, it was almost hard to believe they were at that place in their life once, for I was beholding new men, new creatures, those who had been recreated. Those who God was doing an amazing work. And as I shared with you again, it was not for me an experience primarily of what I imagined a what a drug rehab program would be. But it was truly a profound and humbling experience of authentic Christian life. These men are being formed in poverty. They live completely by divine providence, without access to cell phones or television. A radically simple life for Christ in brotherhood with one another. Something that I believe will be the foundation of amazing lives when they leave that place. 

There's a desire in my heart to ask if we might be able to bring such a community to Ohio. They were brought to the United States through the influence of Bishop Robert Baker, the nephew of Father Dave's godmother, and someone he had spent time with. Through the influence of Bishop Baker, they have come to United States. 

Why do I share all of that? Want to share with you good news. We need good news. Our faith works. Lives can be changed. We heard in our first reading about Saul, our patron. We're Saint Paul the Apostle parish, the greatest missionary in the history of the church. The great Saint Paul. But we note that when he arrived in Jerusalem, referred to as Saul. Of course, that his name before he was given the name Paul.

Our patron arrives in Jerusalem. He tries to join the disciples. They're all afraid of him. They're all afraid of him, because their memory, of course, was when he had participated in and witnessed the murder of the first Christian martyr, Saint Stephen. How he had actively persecuted the church. How he was seeking to hunt down Christians. They hadn't yet gotten the word of his conversion.

What a powerful example. We want to be inspired by Saint Paul. Are there people in our life that we say they are beyond the reach of God? There is no hope for them. When we see those whose lives are devastated through drugs and other forms of addiction, do we put them in the hopeless box? Or do we see in all who seem so far away a Saul who, through the power of God's grace, has the potential to become a Paul?

This conversion of Saint Paul is part of what we mean by Inspired by Saint Paul. That there's hope for us in all of our sins and all of our woundedness and all of our imperfections. There's hope for our families in all of the complexity and oftentimes, brokenness in family life. There's hope for those that we easily put in the hopeless category, because no one is beyond the power of God's saving grace.

And we get the pathway forward in our Gospel. I am the vine. You are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit. Because without me you can do nothing. And so we want to be centered on Christ, inspired by Saint Paul. We want to be centered on Christ, our great patron, Saint Paul, gives us a model of what it means to be centered on Christ. As every March, numerous times our mural profoundly shares that truth as we are Saint Paul Church.

But we find, Jesus in the center of our church, not Saint Paul. He's off to the side. Following his example. We put Christ at the center of our lives. Centered on Christ. Apart from him, we can do nothing. Do we believe that this sister, who in the eyes of the world was not qualified to change and transform lives, knew her own poverty, knew her own insufficiency? But she also knew that through him she could do all things. She knew the truth of this gospel. I am the vine. You are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit. 

It's a call for us to always strive to remain in him, so that he, through us, might bear abundant fruit. And we are encouraged and challenged. In our second reading. Children, let us love not in word or speech, but indeed in truth.

It's easy to speak. It's easy to share our opinions with others in social media, in other atmospheres, other venues, other forums. But to love indeed and truth. I was so struck by the members of this community who choose to live with these men in homes without air conditioning, in the southern heat, without technology, without income, eating whatever is given to them. Loving indeed and truth. The power of love to change the world. 

As we celebrate these sacred mysteries today, we encounter the risen Lord and we ask him to bear abundant fruit in our lives, that he might be glorified and that fruit might bring life to a world so longing to know the life and the authentic freedom that our Lord Jesus has come to give us.