"The Way, the Truth, the Life"

Today we are reminded of this famous exchange in the Gospel in which Jesus begins: "'Where I am going, you know the way.' Thomas said to him, 'Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?' Jesus said to him, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me'" (John 14:4-6).

It seems to me that there is an ever-increasing list of various "ways" to find fulfillment, meaning, purpose, and ultimately God Himself. But that's not what Jesus says. I've been thinking and praying an awful lot lately about the various "Jesuses" floating around out there in popular consciousness and in society. They can't all be true, though, and when we fall prey to the temptation of fashioning Jesus in our image rather than recognizing how backward that is, we run into some problems.

I would merely ask a question:  Why is it so hard for us to take Jesus at his word? Those who truly believe in him have professed all along that WHO Jesus is is exactly who he claimed to be, namely the only Son of the Father - God made man, in the flesh. And if we can accept that, countless doors will open. 

When we can stop worrying about finding "ways" or "truths" or the "life" that's just right for us, we can see with the eyes of faith that Jesus himself, in his person, IS the WAY, and the TRUTH, and the LIFE! It is precisely "through him, with him, and in him" that the full meaning of human life is perfectly expressed.

May we, like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, learn to see the truth that we don't merely trudge along a lonely road with God as our ultimate goal, far off in the distance. Rather, He is with us every single step of the way, enabling us to see clearly each step of our lives in his matchless light.

Gang nach Emmaus, Robert Zünd (1877)

My FAVORITE New Testament moment...

Pope Francis and PRAYER

"For me praying is in a certain way an experience of trust in which our whole being is in the presence of God. This is where dialogue, listening, and transformation occur. Looking at God, but above all sensing that we are being watched by Him. This happens, in my case, when I recite the Rosary or the psalms or when I celebrate the Eucharist. However, I would say that I have this religious experience whenever I start to pray for an extended time in front of the tabernacle. Sometimes I doze while remaining seated and just let Him look at me. I have the sense of being in someone else's hands, as though God were taking me by the hand. I believe that it is important to arrive at the transcendent otherness of the Lord, who is the Lord of all yet always respects our freedom."

- Pope Francis (then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio in the book-length interview El Jesuita by Sergio Rubin and Francesca Ambrogetti)

"For He is GOOD"

In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, Psalm 107(106):20 reads "ἀπέστειλεν τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ καὶ ἰάσατο αὐτοὺς καὶ ἐρρύσατο αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῶν διαφθορῶν αὐτῶν."  The English translation reads, "[God] sent forth his word to heal them, and snatched them from the grave."

The psalmist recounts the struggle of his people, both spiritually and earthly. He recounts the arduous toil of the Israelites under the whips of the Egyptians and God's might at work through Moses that freed them and led them into the Promised Land.

He also speaks of the people's betrayal of God over and over again from the beginning and the pain and suffering that disobeying God brings. This is not because God is waiting in eager anticipation for the first chance to punish us. Rather, when we of our own choosing turn away from Truth, Beauty, Goodness, Life Himself, we naturally reap what we sow (and we break His heart every time we do it!)

What caught my attention first in the psalm, and indeed throughout salvation history, is God's faith in us. He is always there, so patient and loving. He can't hardly wait to save us, to free us, to bring us home again no matter how often we run off.

But what struck me most of all was, thanks to my modest exposure to biblical Greek in seminary, a linguistic observation. Take a look at the Greek phrase "ἀπέστειλεν τὸν λόγον." "He sent forth his word." The prologue of John's gospel depicts God's "logos" - the mind of God, His word, indeed a real person whom Paul in Colossians 1:15 calls "the image of the invisible God." We are made in God' image and likeness, but as Paul says, Christ himself IS the image of the Father - His Word made flesh. This is His only word, the fullness of His revelation to mankind, and so Jesus proclaims, "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30).

How beautiful! Centuries before God the Father reveals Himself fully in the person of His Son, the psalmist rejoices in thanksgiving that God has "sent forth his word" to heal his people and rescue them from death itself. I wonder what his reaction was after passing from this life into the next and seeing the rest of the story...

Eight years later...

Blessed Pope John Paul II
May 18, 1920 - April 2, 2005

“The Gospel lives in conversation with culture, and if the Church holds back from the culture, the Gospel itself falls silent. Therefore, we must be fearless in crossing the threshold of the communication and information revolution now taking place.”