The Way, Truth, Life

What greater works can you do with Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life? Do you serve in one of the many ministries of our parish? If not, I invite you to see what greater works you can do!

Jesus is going to the Father, he says in this Gospel, and He wants to show us the way. Can we Google it? Find it on the internet? Websites can handle almost any address world-wide. If only we could type-in “Heaven.”

Last week, I attended a gathering of the Missionaries of Mercy at St Meinrad Seminary in Indiana. I flew into the Louisville airport and quickly got lost. I asked a guy for directions. He confused me more. I asked another and he said, “Follow me, I’ll show you.” What a difference that makes.

The way to heaven isn’t found on the internet or even with precise directions. The way to heaven is found through a person: Jesus Christ! He doesn’t give directions in hundreds of words or on a website. He tells us that He is the way. It’s personal. “Follow me, I’ll show you.”

“I am the way,” Jesus said. Not a physical path. Not a program. But a person, whom we know in our daily prayer, our

Holy Communion, our Confession of sin. It’s personal. He is love, forgiveness, hope. No one can come to the Father by force or violence, tricks or shortcuts, but only through Jesus.

“I am the truth,” Jesus said. The truth is not abstract. It is living in the eyes and mind and heart of Jesus, our Guide and Friend. We cannot reach it simply by thinking, nor by worrying about it. It’s not a formula or a theory, but the Word-Made-Flesh.

“I am the life,” Jesus said. Not just survival, not just a half-life, but life to the full. Not a life deferred until we die, but life here, now, and forever.

Thomas a Kempis wrote, “Without the Way, there is no going. Without the Truth, there is no knowing. Without the Life, there is no living.”

So, what difference does this make? Have faith in Jesus, follow Him to the Father, do the works he does. Jesus’ personal invitation calls for a personal response from you. What greater works can you do with Jesus as your way, your truth, and your life?

Fr. Mark Zacker

Pastor