Cycle A - Year 1:  

14 May 2017:  Fifth Sunday of Easter 

(Liturgical Color: White)

Gospel:Please Read John 14:1-12

"I am the way and the truth and the life!"

This is from the theme song of the 1975 movie "Mahogany", pupularized by singer Diana Ross:

Do you know where you're going to?

Do you like the things that life is showing you?

Where are you going to, do you know?

Do you get what you're hoping for?

When you look behind you there's no open door.

What are you hoping for, do you know?

I never had the chance to see this movie, but I always love listening to the song. It is about evaluating life's journey, asking if what lies ahead is what we really want and hope for.

And so in our journey of faith, we must also ask the pivotal question: Do we know where we are going to?

The Good News in this Sunday's Gospel is a timely reminder not only about the right path in our earthly journey but most importantly the way to our final destiny.

For those who believe that heaven is our final destination, how then can we be sure that we know the way to heaven without some kind of map or guide? Well perhaps, we can refer to the Scriptures which actually tell the way we should go to reach heaven. 

Jesus proclaims: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father

except through me." (Jn 14:6) This means that our Lord Jesus Christ does not simply give us advice and direction, but He personally is the only Way to the Father. We cannot miss it. Because Jesus also says "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father." (Jn 14:9)

So now we ask, why is the Father known in Jesus? This is because Jesus reflects the Father perfectly, like (in human language) a mirror image can be said to reflect the original subject.

Thus, we can say then that the only way to experience and encounter God, who is divine, is through the very humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Because by virtue of being God's perfect image, Jesus indwells in the Father and the Father in Jesus. 

Jesus tells the disciples that He is the Truth and the Life. Because Jesus embodies the truth in His very person. And He not only shows us the right path of life, He gives us the kind of life which only God can give, and that is the eternal life with the Father.

In sum, we ought to journey to the Father's house by following Jesus, that is to sayto walk Jesus' way, to live like He did, surrendering ourselves totally to the will of the Father. This is our real challenge, to dedicate our lives to love and serve others, including bearing our own crosses daily, enduring suffering for the kingdom, and even offering our very lives for the love of God, if need be.

Are we ready to walk the Wayof Jesus, to follow the straight path to God's kingdom?

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!