Homily for 7 May 2023 by Fr. Gerard Jonas
Today’s Gospel is often read at the funeral liturgy, and it is easy to understand why that is so, for in it Jesus consoles his troubled disciples that while he is going away from them in death, he is really going back to his Father, journeying back to the one from whom he came into the world. He assures his disciples that the journey he is about to make is one that they too will make one day. He promises to return to take his disciples with him to the Father’s house so that they can be with him forever. Jesus promises the same to all of us, that he will take us to the Father at the end of our lives. He came among us to show us the Father, to reveal God to us. The whole purpose of his mission was and is to bring God to us and to bring us to God.
In His valedictory during the Last Supper, Jesus presents Himself as “the Way, the Truth, and the Life”. In doing so, He ties up His person – His identity to His three-fold mission as Priest, as Prophet, and as King.
Jesus is the WAY. He declares that whatever the disciples ask in His name He will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. This is His PRIESTLY mission – to bring us to the Father, to be Mediator. We partake of this today in our life of WORSHIP – our life of Liturgy, the Opus Dei – our words and actions that connect us with God. We live out our HOPE that Jesus, the Way, is with us in our journey to the Father.
Jesus is the TRUTH. He declares that His words are the Father’s words. He speaks not by His own authority but by the Father’s who is in Him. This is His PROPHETIC mission – to proclaim the Father’s word – He Himself is the Word made flesh. He is the incarnated truth. We partake of this today in our life of ORTHODOXY – of holding on to proper truths. We come to know not only the truth about God, but we personally come to know God. Our intellectual assent to His words progresses into a life of communion with Him. Our life of faith is our life of communion with God. We live out our FAITH that thru Jesus, the Truth we come to know the Father who also sends us out as evangelized evangelizers.
Jesus is the LIFE. Jesus declares that he who believes in Him will also do the works He does and even greater. This is His KINGLY mission – to be of service to others, to empower others into a life of similar service. We partake of this today in ORTHOPRAXY – our life of good works knowing that we lend our hands to God so that He may continue to effect His service to whomever we reach out to. We live out our Love that in Jesus, the Life, we serve the Father by being his instruments of goodness to His people.
At Baptism, we have been initiated into the Lord’s three-fold mission. Now let us recommit to a life of active life of faith, hope and love in Worship, Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy in Jesus who is the WAY, the Truth, and the LIFE, as He continues to enjoin us into His Priestly, Prophetic, and Kingly mission.
Let us beg God for the grace to remain steadfast in preaching the Word thru our life turned into a ceaseless act of worship and so keep an unwavering communion with Him.
May we, in renewed faith, not be troubled by the cares of the world, even those that seem to impede us from following the Lord, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
