GROW: “Where do they get their energy!” Maybe you’ve said that about your children as they run around the yard while you’re trying to wrangle them inside for bedtime. Jokes abound about how sugar and caffeine are what keep most adults going, but we know it’s proper nutrition, exercise, and rest that enable us to do well whatever it is we do. That is all relevant to us physically. What about spiritually? Bishop Barron, writing on the Gospel, says, “Jesus declares that he is the vine and we are the branches. He is the power and energy source in which we live.” (Word on Fire Bible, 548) Just as we see the effects of sugar and caffeine on people, we see the supernatural effects of Jesus’ love on, and in, people. As he nurtures us with his perfect love, and that flows into us who are grafted onto him, it changes us. It transforms us and converts us away from sin and toward God. We fill up on that spiritual fuel in the sacramental life of the Church and become a witness to it in how we go about our days – loving one another.