Jesus is the Way, Now Live It

“I am the way and the truth and the life, says the Lord; no one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

Even though we’ve heard this Scripture over and over throughout our lives, it seems that most of us live our entire lives thinking that we can get to heaven our way. We resist surrendering to the love and mercy of God and often find ourselves turning away from God, breaking our relationship with Him. And then we’re complaining that God abandoned us, unwilling to admit that we are the ones who abandoned Him.

Through sanctifying grace and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit that we are given in the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, you would think that knowing Jesus is the only way to the Father would be natural to us. It would be something that we wouldn’t even question. However, in our stubbornness, pride, and tendency to want to do things our way (instead of God’s way) is strong, especially when we’re young. So we often give in to it without much of a fight at all. 

But the Lord said, “I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

Hopefully, as we grow in age, we will also grow in faith, leading us to live the Gifts of the Holy Spirit that God placed in our hearts, specifically the gift of Wisdom, which is the focus of our reading from Sirach. Wisdom moves us to order our life according to God’s will and perfects the theological virtue of Charity, which enables us to love God above all things and our neighbor as ourselves. According to Sirach, Wisdom breathes life into us, and he who loves Wisdom loves life. He who holds fast to Wisdom inherits glory and the Lord bestows blessings upon him. Those who seek Wisdom will be embraced by the Lord. Those who serve Wisdom serve the Holy One. Those who love Wisdom, the Lord loves. If one trusts Wisdom, he will possess Wisdom; His descendants, too, will inherit it. And the list of blessings goes on and on.  

Wisdom is a strong factor in discernment. Seeking and finding the will of God in our life in things both big and small is critical in our life of faith. In the Gospel, Jesus gives the Apostles a lesson in discernment. They had seen someone driving out demons in the name of Jesus, but this person was not part of their group. It upset them and they tried to stop him. Jesus told them, “Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me. For whoever is not against us is for us.”

Jesus is not encouraging them to be naive, but to discern, recognize, and believe that He alone is the Way and the Truth and the Life. After all, if someone outside of their group is truly casting out demons in His name, the faith required to manifest the power to do this comes only through Him as well. In a similar way, the Church, the body of Christ, teaches that all salvation comes through the Catholic Church. Does this mean that all non-Catholic Christians are going to hell? No - it means that Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Life, and that the Church (as the body of Christ) is the vessel through which the grace needed for salvation comes. When those Christians outside the Church receive this grace, whether they know it or not, it has flowed through the Church that Jesus established.

As we ready ourselves to enter the season of Lent, let us spend some serious time with the Lord discerning and preparing to make this a season of prayer and penance like we have never experienced before. We should make this a season in which, through prayer, self-denial, and works of mercy, our hearts are changed, and we truly start to live the virtues. This energizes the Gifts of the Holy Spirit that have been placed in our hearts so that they bubble up in our daily lives always, not just during Lent. This makes us receptive and obedient to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit in all we say and do.

Amen.