An adventure with vines began when I planted a few squash seeds at one corner of our small cement patio. The seeds sprouted; the vines spread, began blossoming, and grew around the patio, up an evergreen, and over the fence next door. I learned not every blossom produces a squash, which is why some folks eat the blossoms. The vines produced only three squash.
My neighbor next door planted seeds again the next year. The vines overran the fence, overshadowing my beans and tomato plants. I learned to prune and redirect their growth. Another neighbor’s grape vine came up and over the five-foot wooden fence between our yards, so I cut it back. Vines have little regard for barriers and show vigorous life from root to farthest shoot.
A vine is a great image of Church. Its single root is in Jesus Christ and its mission is to grow to the ends of Earth. In Sunday’s gospel Jesus uses vines to talk about his relationship to all who follow him.
Artist Pat Owen, who spent two years in the Peace Corps in Senegal, West Africa, spread concern for a woman held in detention for lack of legal documents. The woman came to the U.S. as a fiancée. The man was so violent she refused to marry him, found a janitorial job, and began to put herself through college.
The man kept her papers. War in her home country made getting new documents impossible. Immigration first required her to wear an ankle bracelet and then held her in detention for six months.
Pat created a set of 24 postcards, each depicting a moment in the evolution of the cosmos, each also saying, “You are loved.” The postcards conveyed friendship and commitment toward the woman’s cause and expressed faith in the God who irrepressibly blesses us with life.
Pat’s friends took packs of cards to send wherever they went. The woman in detention set the record for the most mail one detainee ever received and shared them with others. The postcards spread like a living vine to express solidarity.
- When have you experienced a shared commitment energizing a community?