GOSPEL, John (14: 1-6)
Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to Saint John
Jesus the Way to the Father
14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And you know the way to the place where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
The Gospel of the Lord
REFLECTION
Chapter 14 makes us understand the situation in which believers will find themselves after Jesus’ death and resurrection. The Lord’s words become key to the interpretation of the Christian’s life in times of difficulty, persecution, incomprehension and crisis.
The Lord, answering Thomas’ question, does not claim that he speaks the truth, but that He is the truth. “I’m the way, the truth and the life.” (vs. 6) According to St. John, truth is the moment of communion that unites the Father and the Son: Jesus is the full, concrete transparency of that communion. The truth manifests itself in a particular story – that of the Word that became man. Jesus is the way to the Father. Through Jesus, we can have direct access to God, because Jesus is God … On the cross Jesus opened the door, leaving the way open for God. Whoever follows Jesus follows his Way to eternal life (Hebrews 10: 19-20).
Jesus showed us the path that leads to heaven; it is the path that he himself took first. It is the path of humility and sweetness, it is the path of detachment and renunciation, the path of penance and reparation and it is the path of dedication and sacrifice.
It is also the way of union and love. This is the way to remain united to Jesus, to his divine Heart: to do his will in everything, to remain in his love; learn from him that he is loving and humble, that he was sacrificed and immolated, that he abandoned himself in the hands of the Father. (Léon Dehon, OSP 3, p. 441s.).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9on_Dehon
PRAYER
Holy Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory, was appointed mediator between God and men, judge of the world and Lord of lords. He did not abandon our human condition, but ascending to Heaven, as our head and firstborn, gave us the hope of going to meet him one day, as members of his Body, to join Him in his immortal glory. Amen