4th Week of Easter
1st Reading: Acts 13:26-33
When Paul came to Antioch in Pisidia, he said in the synagogue: “My brothers, children of the family of Abraham, and those others among you who are God-fearing, to us this word of salvation has been sent. The inhabitants of Jerusalem and their leaders failed to recognize him, and by condemning him they fulfilled the oracles of the prophets that are read sabbath after sabbath. For even though they found no grounds for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him put to death, and when they had accomplished all that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and placed him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. These are now his witnesses before the people. We ourselves are proclaiming this good news to you that what God promised our fathers he has brought to fulfillment for us, their children, by raising up Jesus, as it is written in the second psalm, “You are my Son; this day I have begotten you.”
Gospel: Jn 14:1-6
Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. 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.”
WHERE I AM YOU ALSO MAY BE: When the Risen Christ appears to Mary Magdalene (Jn 20:11-18), he tells her, “I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” By virtue of his death and resurrection, where he is, we can also be. We are made worthy to share in the intimacy that exists between the Father and the Son. This is life, this is truth: to share in that intimacy. And Jesus is the way to that truth and life. We need to continue to contemplate this assuring news. And make choices towards the fulfilment of the promise of Jesus. To respond to the gratuitous privilege that Jesus promises, is our choice. Therefore, we affirm with St Ignatius of Loyola:
Prayer: Lord, grant that our only desire and our one choice be this: I want and I choose what better leads to You deepening your life in me.
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ONE WAY TOWARDS THE ONE HOME: Saint Augustin writes in ‘Confessions’: “Because God has made us for himself, our hearts are restless until they rest in him.” Only in one home we find rest; we come from him and only in him we feel at home. There is only one home where we feel at home. Home is no longer a possibility or a vain desire of our hearts; home is a dream becoming true; “what God promised to our fathers he has brought to fulfilment for us, their children, by raising up Jesus” (Acts 13:33). In the resurrection of the Son, the Father has definitely opened for us, his children, the way towards life to the full. Jesus is God´s love made flesh, and our future made present. Hence, “let not your hearts be troubled; have faith in God,” his love is our home.
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SEEKING THE WAY TO THE KINGDOM OF GOD: The Disciples of Jesus are still captives of their ignorance. To wade away any fears emanating from this ignorance, Christ reassures them that there are many dwelling places in his Father’s house and that after preparing a place for them, he will return and take them with him. Knowing what was puzzling the disciples, Jesus Christ declares, “I am the way…the truth…the life.” Jesus does not limit himself to showing us the way to encounter God, he becomes the actual path for us to walk on, obedient to his words and imitating his example. Christ opens the door to freedom. Being Christ-like is walking this path that is not a walk on the margins but rather a “new and living way that he [Jesus] inaugurated for us through his flesh” (Heb 10:20). Walking the path is the act of salvation that consists in incorporating ourselves into the life of Jesus, receiving his Spirit (1 Jn 4:13). Those who walk this path reflect positive relationships with others and with the environment.
DAILY GOSPEL 