Catechesis Notes for the Week — “I Am the Vine, you are the branches, he who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” Holy Communion means that through Jesus’ body and blood we abide in Him and He abides in us. He takes from us all sin, death, and condemnation. We receive from Him all good and every spiritual blessing. We have no life apart from Him. A vine is the source of life for the branches. Branches have no life apart from that which they receive from the vine. In Holy Communion, the good flows from Jesus to us as a gift of His grace; and by the power of His Holy Spirit, He produces His works of love and mercy in us. ‘He who abides in Me, and I in Him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.’ Jesus produces all good in us as Christians. The fruits of His redeeming work—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23)—are all worked in us By Him as we receive His body and blood in contrition and faith. Applying this promise of Jesus’ to the Lord’s Supper helps us to understand what the Catechism is speaking about when it says that we go to the Sacrament to ‘learn from [Christ] to love God and [our] neighbor’ (Christian Questions with Their Answers). Excerpt from Lutheran Catechesis Catechist Edition, p. 290b