When I went in for my annual physical at the age of 30-something, my doctor said I had the body of an 18-year old. There were days I still acted like= an 18-year old, but I was a lousy athlete in highschool, so being physically 18 was nothing to brag about in my case. The doctor asked what I did for exercise, and I told him, “Running, bicycling and weight training.= 221; He said, “Hm. Do you know how to swim?” I said, “A little, but I rea= lly don’t swim.” He s= aid, “You ought to have somebody show you a few strokes in the swimming pool. Then you could compete = in a triathlon.” I was like, “Pardon me?” I kn= ew a kid who had done the ironman: you swim 2.4 miles, you get out of the water = and bicycle 112 miles, then you get off the bike and run a marathon, 26.2 miles. The doc= tor said to me, “You’ve got two of the sports down already; you cou= ld pull it off.” Believe <= span class=3DGramE>me, I would had a better chance of building my own roc= ket and shooting myself to the moon. Now, you could argue, no, you can do whatever you put your mind to, = and I would agree – up to a point. It was a physical possibility, but it would have cost a lot in terms= of time, dedication, diet, workouts, and the rearrangement of my life every day. I was not willing to giv= e it what it needed, so I never even tried for that goal.

Whether it’s the physical life or the spiritual lif= e, we never reach some goals because we are unwilling to commit to them. At the Last Supper Jesus had one f= inal chance to get his disciples committed to the right goal. He kept it pretty basic. He didn’t say, “I want= you to learn how to become public speakers,” or “I think you should read more so that you can write gospel accounts of what happened here.” He didn’t = say, “I want you to study psychology so you can help people going through times of trouble.” None of that. <= /span>Instead, he said, “Remain in me.” He compared himself to a vine and them to branches. If you take a branch off the vine, it’s not going to live. That branch will die. He and the disciples were one, but if any of them tried to go it alone, they were not going to make it.

If we separate ourselves from God, we feel it. If you don’t go to mass for a while, or you don’t say prayers each day, if you don’t offer so= me regular service to those who are less fortunate, if you don’t contribute to charities, or if you don’t live the way other Christians live, you fe= el it. You know what it’s = like to be a branch apart from the vine. The same is true in our families: if you don’t talk often with= the ones you love, if children and parents don’t spend time with each oth= er, if your work or your school takes priority over the people you live with, y= ou feel it. You know what itR= 17;s like to be a branch, dying, apart from the vine.

At the Last Supper, Jesus foresaw all this. So he gives the most basic advice = to his followers: “Remain in me.”&nbs= p; Keep close to the Word of God. Read the Bible. Meet w= ith other Christians. Make time f= or people who rely on you. Pray often. It’s not hard. It just takes a certain commitment= . For some people, even these basic = tasks seem as likely to do as competing in a triathlon. But you can probably do it. You can probably do whatever you p= ut your mind to, if you set the right goal and you rearrange the parts of your life to reach it. You will bear fruit.