The Vine on Mothers' Day

On the way to mass this morning, we (my wife and I) were talking to the kids and each other about today's gospel.

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

John 15:5

My first impulse was to reach back to Isaiah 11:1 - "There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots." In the gospel Jesus is saying that we are the branches, and in a sense, we are incorporated into Him through our baptism and the mission of the messiah is passed on to His Church.

But then I started to wonder how one might tie this gospel in with Mothers' Day.

Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house;
your children will be like olive shoots around your table.
Lo, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.

Psalm 128:3-4

Jesus is the vine, and we are his branches. A mother is like a vine, and her children like olive shoots.

After a long day including visits to my mother-in-law, my mother, and my wife's grandmother, I don't have the energy to explore the similarities and differences, but it is obvious that they are there. I think I'll just say that my wife is like God, and leave it at that.