Scripture:
Acts 13:26-33
John 14:1-6
Reflection:
Jesus: Our Way, Our Truth, Our Life
Today’s Gospel selection is so true to life: like the early disciples, we can easily be caught up in the details and challenges of life that we lose our perspective and wander afar. Family, jobs, personal health, politics, the global reality, etc.: all converge in our minds and hearts and we can seem lost — and perhaps even fearful of the future. To whom can we turn?
Jesus reassures us as he did the early disciples: "I am the way and the truth and the life." Yes! Without Jesus the Way, there is no going; without Jesus the Truth, there is no knowing; and without Jesus the Life, there is no living. To have faith in Jesus transforms us and gives us a new outlook on life. He is the most influential and important person in our lives.
I’ve heard it said that life without Jesus is like living in the largest airport you’ve ever traveled through…perhaps Chicago’s O’Hare, or Dallas-Ft. Worth, or LAX in Los Angeles, or JFK in New York, or Atlanta. As an occasional airport traveler myself, I know that airports can be confusing, impersonal — and perhaps a madhouse at times. Amidst the thousands of people there, you can feel very much alone, perhaps even lost as you seek your departure gate.
With Jesus we are not lost souls amid a maddening crowd, but rather folks in union with an untold number of sisters and brothers in the worldwide family of God…all on the same journey through earthly experiences to our eternal destiny. No need to let our hearts be troubled! We believe…Jesus is the Way, the Truth, the Life!
And, as "Easter People" on the roads and airports of contemporary life, may we add our joyful "alleluia’s" (perhaps a bit off key at times….) to our song as 21st century disciples!
Fr. John Schork, C.P. is the local leader of the Passionist community in Louisville, Kentucky.