The Omnipotent Mind of Our Lord pictured the fall of the one whom He had called the Rock. But after the coming of His Spirit, Peter would follow Him. The significance of this is preserved in a beautiful legend, which pictures Peter flying from the persecution of Nero in Rome. Peter met the Lord on the Appian Way and said to Him, “Lord, whither goest Thou?” Our Blessed Lord answered: “I go to Rome to be crucified again.” Peter went back to Rome, and was crucified on the site where the Church of St. Peter stands today. The Sacred Heart now looked beyond that dark Hour to the days when He and His Apostles and their successors would be one with Him in Spirit. If there was any moment calculated to take a mind away from the future, it was this awful present moment. But since He had already spoken of the unity between the Apostles and Himself through the Eucharist, He would take up the theme again under the figure of the vine and the branches. This unity of which He spoke was not such as existed at that moment, for within an hour they would all desert Him and flee. Rather it was the unity that would be consummated through His glorification. The figure of the vine He used was a very familiar one in the Old Testament. Israel was called a vine, the vine that was brought out of Egypt; Isaias spoke of God as having planted that chosen vine. Jeremias and Osee bemoaned and complained that it was not bringing forth fruit. As Our Blessed Lord, in contrast to the manna that was given by Moses, called Himself the “True Bread” as in contrast to the brilliant lights of the Feast of the Tabernacles, He called Himself the “True Light” as in contrast to the temple built by hands, He called Himself the “Temple of God,” so now in contrast to the vine of Israel, He said:

I am the true vine,
And it is My Father Who tends it.

JOHN 15:1

            – from Life of Christ