5th Week of Lent 2023 - Tuesday - The Way of eternal life

 Yesterday, we heard the Gospel of the woman caught in adultery from the 8th Chapter of John’s Gospel. Jesus had come to Jerusalem for the third time in John’s Gospel, on the feast of tabernacles. While he was in the temple area teaching, the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Priests who were trying to trap Jesus somehow seized this woman and made her stand in the midst of everyone, who are ready to stone her for her sins.

But the Lord reveals his mercy. “Has no one condemned you? Neither do I condemn you” Go and sin no more.”

Today’s Gospel continues the scene. In fact, the Gospel passages for the rest of the week continue from John chapter 8. So following the incident with the adulterous woman, the Lord continues to teach about who he is, what he has come to do, the mission given to him by his heavenly Father, and the consequences for not believing him.

He’s come from the Father. He’s come to do the Father’s work. And he will return to the Father. 

The Lord’s teaching here reminds me of those beautiful verses from Isaiah 55: “Yet just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down And do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, Giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats, So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; It shall not return to me empty, but shall do what pleases me, achieving the end for which I sent it.”

The Son of God is the Word that has come forth from the mouth of God. He has come from heaven to earth in the incarnation. He has given seed to the one who sows through his preaching and forming disciples, bread to the one who eats in the Eucharist. He fulfills the end for which he has been sent watering the earth with his blood in his passion and death, the sacrifice pleasing and acceptable to the Father. And he returns to his heavenly Father after his resurrection by his glorious ascension. 

In today’s gospel, the Lord says he will return to the one who sent him, but then utters a rather chilling judgment to those who lake faith. He says, “where I am going you cannot come.” There are consequences, eternal consequences for unbelief. Jesus opens the path to eternal life, he is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through Him. 

But for those who believe, the Lord makes the most beautiful of promises: But for those who believe, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from within him.’

Likely, this Lent, there have been times when we refused to believe as deeply as we could, where we refused to follow the Lord as we should, and our lives are sadder for it, dryer, more empty. And there have likely been times when we have believed, we have allowed the river of living water to flow in our lives. Thanks be to God.

The Gospel certainly elicits a response. Belief. Belief in who the Lord says he is. Belief that what he teaches is true. Belief that how he teaches us to act is holy. Belief that what we see him doing and suffering in the scriptures these next two weeks, he does out of love for us, he bears out of love for us, that we may join the company of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in eternity, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That God may be pleased to increase faith and understanding in the catechumens and candidates who approach the sacraments of initiation in the coming Paschal Solemnity. 

For those without faith, those with hearts hardened toward God, and for those searching for Him.

For strength to resist temptation, and the humility to sincerely repent of sin.

That through fasting and self-denial, we may be ever more conformed to Christ.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Mercifully hear, O Lord, the prayers of your Church and turn with compassion to the hearts that bow before you, that those you make sharers in your divine mystery may always benefit from your assistance.

4th Week of Easter 2018 - Friday - The One and Only Way

On Tuesday, we read from the Acts of the Apostles, that it was in Antioch that the followers of Jesus were first called ‘Christians’. And that was about nine or ten years after the death of Jesus. For that first decade, Jesus’ disciples referred to themselves as followers of “The Way”

Jesus refers to himself as “The Way” in today’s Gospel. The Greek word he uses here in John chapter 14 is “hodos”. The word had many meanings, as it does today. A “hodos” was a path used for traveling from one place to another: a road or a highway. It was also a course of behavior, as in the “way to build a house” or “the way bake a cake”. Also, it was used to describe a moral or spiritual viewpoint, a set of teachings, the doctrine of a philosophical school.

Jesus gathers all those meanings into one, and adds something brand new to it. Jesus teaches the way from one place to another, from earth to heaven. Jesus offers a course of behavior, a way to a fulfilled life, a life in which our deepest yearnings are fulfilled. Jesus instructs us with a set of teachings by which we are to direct our life.

And yet, “the way” is not a some-thing, but a some-body. “The Way” is a person. Jesus says “I AM the way”, he claims to be that which no one had ever dared to claim before. He’s not a signpost, he’s the destination. The point of life, the reason for our existence, IS HIM, to be in right relationship to Him, to become united to Him, to enter into communion with Him, to conform our minds, our hearts, our lives to Him.

Throughout history, we’ve had spiritual thinkers like Krishna, Muhammed, Buddha, even Moses, each of them offering teachings to help point people to the “right way” of living, the right way to achieve the end or goal of human flourishing. In a sense, each of them point away from themselves.

The point of Islam isn’t to be in right relationship with Muhammed. The point of Moses’ teaching in the Torah isn’t to enter into a mystical and intimate relationship with Moses. So, to those who say that all religions are the same, we say, “no”. Jesus’ claim is unique among the world religions, it’s different.

Jesus Himself is making the claim that there aren’t multiple roads to human fulfillment, nor are all roads imperfect attempts at perfection. He IS the road, He IS the perfect way, who all of humanity is called to follow.

May our easter celebrations deepen our conviction of this truth, and help us to enter more deeply, and walk more faithfully, and to proclaim more boldly, the way of the Lord Jesus, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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God the Father was glorified in the death and resurrection of his Son. Let us pray to him with confidence.

God the Father bathed the world in splendor when Christ rose again in glory, may our minds be filled with the light of faith.

Through the resurrection of His Son, the Father opened for us the way to eternal life, may we be sustained today in our work with the hope of glory.

Through His risen Son, the Father sent the Holy Spirit into the world, may our hearts be set on fire with spiritual love.

May Jesus Christ, who was crucified to set us free, be the salvation of all those who suffer, particularly those who suffer from physical or mental illness, addiction, and grief.

That all of our beloved dead and all the souls in purgatory may come to the glory of the Resurrection.

For the 9 men who will be ordained transitional deacons this evening at the Cathedral, that their road to ordination may bring them to encounter more deeply the life and heart of Christ the Good Shepherd.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the desires of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our lord.