The Way

I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
Jn.14.6

Thomas has just said he doesn't know the way to the place of "many rooms" where his heart will not be troubled. Jesus puts his mind at rest. "Just follow me. I am the way".

Jesus doesn't give any options to him being the way. He doesn't say "I am one way". He is THE way. The way to where? The way home with the Father.

Like Thomas and the other apostles, my heart is not troubled when I follow the way to truth and life.

Jesus, I stumble along behind you. You are my way, my truth, my life. I place my trust in you.

Small made Great

There is a small boy here with five barley loaves and two fish; but what is that between so many?
Jn.6:9

Andrew is so blinded by the problem of feeding over five thousand people that he fails to see the solution standing in front of him.

Andrew looks at the boy and his five loaves and two fish and says, "Useless." Jesus looks at the boy and his offering and says, "Perfect!" Jesus is master at using anything to perform a miracle when it is offered in faith. This lesson would not have been lost on Andrew as he watched the miracle of the loaves and fishes unfold.

I remember leading music at Mass in fear and trepidation. I'm not a great musician, a "hit and hope" guitarist at best. Yet people told me afterwards how moved they were by the music. I am constantly amazed at how God uses me when I offer the little I have in faith. 

The little boy with his loaves is me.

Jesus, I am weak, small and insignificant. I offer to you again what I have. Use me Lord and be glorified.
Saint Andrew the Apostle, please pray for me.

Taste and See

Taste and see that the Lord is good. He is happy who seeks refuge in him.

Ps.33:8

The invitation is as old as time. Taste, come and see the Lord is good.

Jesus tells the Church to invite the world into a relationship with him. We are to go and tell. We are to invite all to come and see.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful. Kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created and you shall renew the face of the earth.

God so loves Me

God loved the world so much, he gave us his only Son, that all who believe in him might have eternal life.
Jn.3:16

Jesus reveals to Nicodemus what is in the heart of God the Father. It is love for his creation.

To sacrificially give a son is such a great act of love I can hardly get my head around it. To take it up a notch, he gave his son for me.

God loves me so much, he gave his only Son, that I may believe in him and have eternal life.

Wow!

I walk into today a son loved by my Father. This changes everything. Hope and joy are mine.

Thank you Father for your great love for me. Help me be a prophet of hope and joy to all I meet today.
Saint Nicodemus, please pray for me.

Lift Him Up

The Son of Man must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.

Jn.3:14,15

Jesus meets with Nicodemus in the dark of night proclaiming that he, Jesus, must be lifted up in the daylight.

Jesus doesn't want to be the world's greatest secret. He desires to be lifted up for all to see and live.

Today I live not as a Jesus denyer but a Jesus proclaimer.

Come Holy Spirit. Fill me with zeal to proclaim the Good News about Jesus.

Combat Strangely Ended

Death with life contended: 

combat strangely ended! 

Life’s own Champion, slain, 

yet lives to reign. 

 - Easter Sequence -

Here we are on the fifth day of the Easter Octave and the joy and wonder of Jesus' resurrection from the dead continues to reverberate around the world like Easter bells. The combat of death against life strangely ended indeed!

I walk into today as an Easter person. Christ is risen indeed, Alleluia Alleluia!

What Things?

‘What things?’ he asked.
Lk.24:19

The two disciples returning home after Christ's cruel death are downcast. The risen Jesus joins them and invites them to open up and share how they're feeling. That is when healing begins to take place.

"What things?" Such a simple phrase, yet such a powerful invitation to unburden. It's like lancing a boil. The pus must come out before healing can take place.

This is a practical way I can be Jesus to those I meet "on the road". Offer no advice. Just listen, then invite the Holy Spirit into the situation. Our gaze then shifts from down to up.

Thank you Jesus that you walk alongside me, that you ask "What things?" and then listen.