"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower.  He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit.  Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.  You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you.

Part of the mystery of the trinity is revealed here.  The Eternal Father, source of all being, begets the Son from all eternity.  The Son proceeds out of the Father like a vine proceeds out of the earth.  "God from God, light from light."  The Son is the fruit of the Father but not in time - from eternity before time.  He always was there and has always been being begotten from the Father, like a vine begotten from the earth, though a vine has a beginning, Christ does not.

We know that at the judgment the unrighteous will be discarded.  As hard as that is to hear, Christ said it over and over again.  But there seems to be two senses in which a branch that bears no fruit is discarded: now and at the judgment.  At the judgment it is final; in time there is always the possibility for repentance.  When a soul continually turns away from God's grace the light of conscience becomes dimmer and dimmer until it eventually goes out altogether.  Thus branches that refuse to bear fruit are removed from Christ, a terrible, frightening prospect.  Yet this is how Christ can say to the scribes and Pharisees "How can you escape being sentenced to hell?" (Matthew 23.33)  He declares these souls "tombs," not yet physically dead but full of every corruption. (Matthew 23.27)  How unwise the soul who thinks itself incapable of dimming the light of its conscience day by day until it reaches the point of bearing no fruit.  We have had our warning.

For the ones who bear fruit a pruning can be expected.  This pruning is both external and internal.  External pruning: troubles, difficulties, challenges and so forth in our dealings with others serve to mature us and help us grow in charity.  Internal pruning purifies our faith of falsehoods and deepens our relationship with God.

Being pruned is no fun but altogether necessary.  When we recognize it is occurring we enter into a discourse with God which follows that of St. Peter when Our Lord washed the feet of the disciples.  We at first refuse, believing ourselves unworthy of the attention.  When we hear how necessary it is we go to the other extreme and want overly-pruned.  How easily we want to take the pruners place.  "I'll prune myself, thank you," or "yes, prune here, prune there."  We direct.  The Lord alone knows our souls entirely and how to best prune them so we bear more fruit.  It is the Word who cleanses.