V- Easter : Acts 6: 1-7, I Pt 2: 4-9, Jn 14: 1-12            
When St. John Chrysostom was summoned before the Roman Emperor Arcadius and threatened with banishment, Chrysostom replied, “You cannot banish me, for the world is my Father’s house.”  “Then I will kill you,” exclaimed the Emperor angrily.  “No, you cannot,” retorted Chrysostom, “because my life is hidden with Christ in God.”  “Your treasures shall be confiscated,” the Emperor replied grimly. “Sir, you can’t do that because my treasures are in heaven as my heart is there.”  “I will drive you from your people and you shall have no friends left,” threatened the Emperor.  “That you cannot do either, Sir, for I have a Friend in heaven who has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’”

We all inevitably encounter troubles, difficulties and abandonments. Jesus knew his disciples would have to face trials and persecution after he left them to return to his Father in heaven. Adversity can make them lose hope and become discouraged. So, Jesus told them in advance, do not be afraid, I will never leave you or forsake you. I will be with you as your Way, Truth and life.

How do we deal with our troubles ? Do we handle it alone or ask Jesus to be part of it ?

J. Arthur Rank was one of the early pio­neers of the film industry in Great Britain, and he also happened to be a devout Christian. He had a good system of dealing with problems. 

Rank found he could not push his worries out of his mind completely; they were always slipping back in. So he finally made a pact with God to limit his worrying to Wednesday. He even made himself a little Wednesday Worry Box and he placed it on his desk. Whenever a worry cropped up, Rank wrote it out and dropped it into the Wednesday Worry Box.

When Wednesday rolled around, he would open that box to find that only a third of the items he had written down were still worth worrying about. The rest had managed to resolve themselves. 

If you have a troubled heart, ask God to give you a new perspective. Also ask him to give you patience so that you do not jump ahead and worry about a problem that may never come. But most important of all, ask God for more faith. Faith in God is the best remedy for all our problems. Jesus put it plainly, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me."

Believing in Jesus will help us to walk in the Way of Jesus. Early Christians called themselves the people of the Way. The central message of John’s gospel is that Jesus is the Way to the Father, he is both the revealer and the revelation of God. If we wish to know who God is, what God thinks and what God wants of us, we must attend to Jesus the Word of God. Jesus is the "Way" because he is the visible manifestation in human form of all that his Father is. To those who teach that all religions lead us to God or that religion is immaterial provided man lead a good life, Jesus has the answer that he is the safest and surest way to God because he came from God and he can lead us to his heavenly Father.  The founders of other religions had either wrong ideas about the way to God or they were not sure guides.  Lao-Tse (604-531 BC), the founder of Taoism said: “Get rid of all desires, you will have a contented life on earth, but I am not sure about the next life.” Buddha taught people to reach self-realization through total detachment and “nirvana”, but he was not sure if these would lead one to God.  Confucius confessed that he did not know of an eternal life or the way to attain it.  The founder of Islam, Mohammed Nabi, admitted that he himself had no hope of the future unless Allah should put His mantle of mercy on him.  However, Jesus claims that he is the only way to God.

Christianity is not a theology or philosophy, but it is about a life of faith centered on Jesus as the Way, the truth and the life.

When a Person is a Way for us to get to the Father and everlasting life, that Way is found only in our relationship with Him, that is, in our union with Him in mind and heart, in will and action. To follow the Way of Jesus is to become a special kind of person, a person whose whole being reflects the Truth and the Life that Jesus reveals to us.  It is to be a person of Truth and Life who is totally identified with the vision and the values of Jesus.

He personally is the way to the Father's kingdom, and we cannot miss it if we follow him. He accompanies us on our daily journey and watches over us as the good shepherd who leads and sustains us each and every step of the way.

Jesus is the truth, the word of God. To seek the truth elsewhere is to stumble and fall, to deal in falsehood and lies. Jesus promised his disciples that if they continued in his word, they would learn the truth and the truth would set them free" (John 8:31). The truth which Jesus proclaims has power to set us free from ignorance, deception, and sin. Moral truth requires more than mere words or ideas because the person who speaks them must be true - true in thought, speech, deed, example, and action. Jesus claims to be one with the Father and to speak the truth which proceeds from the Father.

Jesus is the Life and he allows us to share in God’s Life through the sacraments. Christ rose from the dead for two reasons: first, to give us eternal life; second, to make us fully alive now. His Spirit animates every moment of our lives. To be fully alive is to be in God.

When we're confused about decisions we should make, Jesus Himself will show us the Way. When we don't know what is true and what is false, what is right and what is wrong, the Holy Spirit through the Church will enlighten us. And when we are drawn into false pleasures that promise us life, Jesus will bring us back to real living and the joy of that life through the power of His love. As we continue with this Eucharist, let’s ask Jesus to help us always remain in him who is our way, the truth and the Life.