Sunday April 20, 2008: Acts 6:1-7; 1 Pt 2:4-9; Jn 14:1-12

In the gospel of John, Jesus Christ uses different imageries to describe himself. Last week, Jesus Christ told us in the gospel that he is the “Good shepherd” and also, that he is the “door.” In today’s gospel, he says to us, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” This revelation of Jesus to the people is important, given their pitiful situation. This revelation, assures a suffering people that they are making a right choice following him. At the very beginning of the gospel, he tells them, “Do not let your hearts be troubled, you have faith in God; have faith also in me.” These words speak to the circumstances of many people in this country today. I don’t know about you, but when I look at all that is happening, my heart is troubled. My heart is troubled because I am afraid of the economy; my heart is troubled because I am not sure if before the beginning of the summer, we will be paying $5 a gallon at the pump; my heart is troubled because people I know are losing their jobs or benefits; my heart feels troubled because our soldiers are dying every day in Iraq and we haven’t got a solution yet to the problems in Iraq and most of the middle East; my heart is troubled because the cost of health care is going up and many people cannot afford health insurance and are dying in silence. There are many things to be worried about.
The words of Jesus in the gospel, are words that bring me peace of heart. These words calm my fears. It is the same words I want to share with you today, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” When we encounter fears in our lives, there are two things we can do: we either hope or despair. There is a voice always saying to us, “things cannot be better, they can only get worst.” This voice leads us to be so worried. We worry so much that the things we could have even done properly, we do them improperly. This voice tells you that Jesus cannot help you in your situation. You begin to ask, what is the essence of prayer? This voice is not from God. This is the voice of despair. There is also another voice, the voice we heard in the gospel of today, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me.” This is the voice you need to listen to. It is the voice of hope; it is the voice of faith. Faith is what sees you through, during your times of tribulations. We listen to this voice because we can always count on God to be there for us. As St. Augustine tells us, “God is not a deceiver, that he should offer to support us, and then, when we lean upon Him, should slip away from us.” He always keeps to his promises and his promises are always of good and not of evil. Today’s gospel invites us to come and lean on Jesus with our troubled hearts. Why should we lean on him? Jesus tells us the reason in the gospel. He is “the way, the truth and the life.”

Jesus Christ is not just the one that shows us the way, he is himself “the way.” I know we men don’t like asking for directions. I must confess that I do not like asking for directions. The reason is because most times I do not trust the directions I will receive. My GPS even does not help either. Two weeks ago, I was celebrating Masses in Bluefield and Princeton, West Virginia. My navigation system was able to find the Church in Princeton on Saturday. On Sunday morning, it could neither found the church nor the street in which the church is located in Bluefield, West Virginia. It took two people giving me directions to get me to the church. I felt frustrated looking for the church that morning because I was running late. Supposing someone came to me at the time of the frustration and said to me, “you are looking for the way to the church? Don’t worry, I am that way. I will bring you right into the church.” I cannot imagine how peaceful I would have felt that morning. That is the offer Jesus Christ is giving us today. He is saying to you this morning, “ I am the way to your salvation; I am the way to your financial breakthrough in life; I am the way to your professional success; I am the way to peace in your family; I am the way to your academic success; I am the way to happiness in your life.” Don’t be afraid that he will not have resources for you. His resources are limitless. There are many mansions in his Father’s house, so there is enough for everyone.

We have a fundamental human craving for the truth. We desire to know the truth and sometimes we are afraid of hearing the truth. Pilate asked Jesus, “What is truth” The Truth was standing right in front of him and he will not acknowledge it. Many of the problems we face are as a result of someone failing in his or her own duty of truthfulness. Jesus Christ was crucified for being the Truth and it will take many more crucifixions for many of our problems to be solved. We are afraid of being persecuted for the Truth, and thus we work harder to be politically correct, than being what we stand for. I see the Church being crucified every day in the media for what she teaches and we as the people of God must embody the identity of our teacher – the Truth. We need to know the Truth in order to be able to walk in the way of the Lord. The Truth is Jesus Christ. We are not speaking of an intellectual knowledge of Jesus, but a total acceptance of Him as your redeemer and savior. When you do this, you will begin to see him more present in your life and you will be able to cast freely your burdens into his care.

Jesus Christ offered his life on the Cross of Calvary for us that we might not perish but have life. This is the greatest love one can show to his friend. Yet, St. Paul tells us that when he did this for us, we were still sinners. This is the most compelling reason why our hearts should not be troubled. It is always said that, “a friend in need is a friend indeed.” Jesus Christ has shown us that he is truly a friend. When we were in need of salvation, Christ offered his life for us, how much more the challenges of our earthly life? We can always trust that he will be there for us. All that is required of us is that faith in him. We need to let go and let him do his job. He is God and we are not.

I leave you with these words for the week, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”

John 11: 1-45 (Sunday, March 9, 2008 – Fifth Sunday of Lent)

Two Sundays ago, Jesus Christ revealed himself to the Samaritan woman at the well as the “water of life.” Last week in the story of the man born blind, Jesus said, “I am the light of the Lord.” Again and again, throughout the gospel of John, Jesus Christ uses different symbols to tell us about his true identity. In John 6:35, he says, “I am the bread of life”; In John 10:9, he says, “I am the door”; In John 10: 11, he says, “I am the good shepherd”; In John 14:6, he says, “I am the way, the truth and the life”; and in John 15:5, he says, “I am the vine.”
The story is a little different today in the wonderful gospel story of the raising of Lazarus to life. When Martha told Jesus of the death of his friend, Lazarus, his response is that, he is not dead. Martha obviously believed in the resurrection of the dead on the last day. Jesus Christ revealed his identity to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life.” What is different in today’s story is that, Jesus Christ did not only identify himself as the resurrection and the life, he went ahead to show that he truly has power over life and death, and he brought Lazarus into life. For Mary and Martha, their situation was helpless, they have lost their beloved brother. Jesus overturned this situation and make it a happy one. Lazarus case looked hopeless at the time that Jesus arrived. Even though Martha believed that Jesus could bring Lazarus to life on the last day, she did not believe that Jesus will do it at that very moment. That is the reason Marthat is saying to Jesus, he will stench because he has been buried for four days. Martha failed to understand that Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life and he can bring Lazarus back to life when ever he wants.
Saints, I do not know what you are going through right now – many of you may be Lazarus’ in one way or the other:

Ø You may be going through spiritual death right now. Your whole life is empty. You have lost your faith in God. Religion is all about the external without anything coming from within. When you pray, it seems like nothing is happening. You are at that point of crying, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.” Know that Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life and he can and will restore you to the fullness of the spirit.
Ø Some of you may be going through physical deaths right now. You are dead to sickness. You are living every day of your life counting when you will die. You have an incurable disease and you are told there is no cure. You are hiding your health situation and dying in your loneliness. I have good news for you today, the resurrection and the life can restore you.
Ø Talk about financial deaths. That is what many people are going through right now. You are afraid your home would be foreclosed. Your credit card debt is piling up; you are owing income tax and the mere thought of April 15 coming next month scares you to death because you do not have the money to pay. I want to assure you that the resurrection and the life will see you through this.
Ø Some of you are dead to family. Your wife or husband is unfaithful to you. That initial love you had when you got married is dead. Your children are really making you impatient and they aggravate you. There is chaos in your home. You may even be contemplating divorce. Jesus Christ has some news for you today. He will bring your family and love back to life.
Ø Some of you are dead to your work. There is no motivation when you get up in the morning to go to work. You have not received a pay increase in five years, yet the prices of things are going up. You are even contemplating quitting your job, but you are afraid because you will not find another job. The resurrection and the life is saying to you today, “My promise to you is that you will not be at the tail but at the head. Don’t give up.”
Ø You may be dead to sin right now. You have lost your conscience and sin no longer perturbs you. You do not know how to get out of the bondage of sin you have placed yourself into. Jesus Christ is saying to you today, “that is the reason I gave you the sacrament of reconciliation. Go and get yourself resurrected.”

The question today is, do you believe that Jesus Christ can overturn your situation? Some of you believe strongly in Newton’s law of gravity, “whatever goes up must surely come down.” I want to assure you today, that this theory has no place in God’s book of theories. God wants to replace this law with a higher law, the law of aerodynamics. It is the law that keeps a plane up in the sky. Some of you may have gone up and fallen down. All the wonderful hopes you had for the future are gone. Jesus Christ wants to raise you back up and keep you up. This is only possible if you life in the rhythm of the law of aerodynamics, the law of hope, the law of faith, and the law of courage.