Acts 19:1-6 / John 15:1-8
The word "cut" will evoke a variety of feelings, from uncomfortable to painful.
To suffer a cut is certainly painful. To cut off a growth from the body without anaesthetic is far from pleasant.
Even when a branch is cut off from a tree, the tree would "bleed" with sap at where the branch is cut off.
But generally speaking, things are cut off only when they are useless or harmful.
In the gospel, Jesus tells us that God cuts every branch that does not bear fruit. Yet at the same time, every branch that does bear fruit God prunes to make it bear even more fruit.
So the act of cutting off something can be painful and harmful even, especially if something good is being cut off.
Or it can be that something bad or harmful needs to be cut off so as to prevent the good from being affected.
In the 1st reading, there was a big disagreement and a long argument over the practice of circumcision, so much so that the apostles and elders had to meet to look into the matter.
The decision, as we would know later, that circumcision was not to be imposed on converts to the faith.
As for us, we too need to decide what to cut off and what is to be pruned.
Needless to say, we need to cut off our sinful habits and our vices. At the same time, we need to prune our spiritual life and our prayer life, so that we will bear good fruits that give glory to God.