If you listen to "talk radio" or "cable television," if you read "blogs," "editorial pages" of local or national newspapers, you would more likely than not be ready to toss all of these media into the nearest river. One set of these media protected by constitutional rights, has you supporting the President and his policies, another set in the media speaks out as the "loyal opposition," and then, a most recent creation has joined these two sets speaking out against everything they don't appreciate. It is quite a scene when you consider all three.
The message of today's readings is so appropriate. Peter and Paul have differing opinions about evangelization and how the early Church should be established. But Jesus along with Peter and Paul agree on one teaching: Jesus in the vine and we, all of us, are the branches. As a branch, our duty is to remain attached to the vine and to live with the life giving graces of the vine.
If all the people who are out there proclaiming their faiths remained true to these words of Jesus, there would be a major change: no confrontation or division.
