The Way, the Truth and the Life
One time, I got lost in the narrow streets of Rome. So I asked somebody for directions on how to find the Pantheon. The good man just smiled and shook his head and, typical for an Italian, made some grand gestures with his hands as he didn’t understand English. Finally I found a young student who told me to go straight, then turn left at the second corner, right at the third corner, cross the small piazza where I should take the small street on the right, and so on. Not even half-way, I was lost again.
When I saw a priest approaching, I asked him for direction. He smiled and said in broken English, “Come, I will you go and bring you to Pantheon.” The kind student tried to show me the way, but the priest accompanied me and so became “the way.” This is what Jesus meant when He answered the honest question of Thomas, saying, “I am the Way.”
He surely gave us many directions but more important is the fact that He accompanies us. Remember the last words Jesus spoke to His disciples? “I am with you always.” He did not just give directions — He walks with us on our way through this world and through our often difficult lives. Jesus is our companion, unseen but really at our side, as He accompanied, incognito, the two disciples on their way to Emmaus.
There is even more. Jesus said that He is not only the Way but also “the Truth and the Life.” In a world where we often do not know anymore who speaks the truth, whom to trust, Jesus assures us that in Him there is no falsehood. He never tries to lure us into following Him by false promises and sweet talk. He is always completely honest — so honest that many of His admirers left Him when He spoke about the cross that we have to take up and His flesh that we have to eat.
And He is “the Life” by giving Himself as spiritual nourishment in the Eucharist. To follow Christ, therefore, we are absolutely safe, as long as we really trust Him and His words. Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD
REFLECTION QUESTION: Do you give yourself completely and with full trust to the Lord, knowing that only He can bring you to the final goal?
Lord, I feel often insecure in this confusing world. I ask myself at times where am I going. Lord, teach me to trust You more.
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