Sunday May 14, 2017 5th Sunday of Easter: I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Gospel – John 14:1-12

Jesus said to his disciples:  “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. Where I am going you know the way.”

Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?”

Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Philip said to him, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.”

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these,  because I am going to the Father.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church

459  The Word became flesh to be our model of holiness: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me.” “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.” On the mountain of the Transfiguration, the Father commands: “Listen to him!” Jesus is the model for the Beatitudes and the norm of the new law: “Love one another as I have loved you.” This love implies an effective offering of oneself, after his example.

516 Christ’s whole earthly life—his words and deeds, his silences and sufferings, indeed his manner of being and speaking—is Revelation of the Father. Jesus can say: “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father,” and the Father can say: “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” Because our Lord became man in order to do his Father’s will, even the least characteristics of his mysteries manifest “God’s love… among us.”

151 For a Christian, believing in God cannot be separated from believing in the One he sent, his “beloved Son,” in whom the Father is “well pleased”; God tells us to listen to him. The Lord himself said to his disciples: “Believe in God, believe also in me.” We can believe in Jesus Christ because he is himself God, the Word made flesh: “No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.” Because he “has seen the Father,” Jesus Christ is the only one who knows him and can reveal him.

820 “Christ bestowed unity on his Church from the beginning. This unity, we believe, subsists in the Catholic Church as something she can never lose, and we hope that it will continue to increase until the end of time. ”Christ always gives his Church the gift of unity, but the Church must always pray and work to maintain, reinforce, and perfect the unity that Christ wills for her. This is why Jesus himself prayed at the hour of his Passion, and does not cease praying to his Father, for the unity of his disciples: “That they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be one in us,  … so that the world may know that you have sent me.” The desire to recover the unity of all Christians is a gift of Christ and a call of the Holy Spirit.

From “The Great Crusade of Mercy” Testimony of Catalina Rivas (CM-6:8, 95:7, 87:9)

6:8) Little one, I am the way.  He who knows Me, knows the way.  I am the One who gives life everlasting.  I am the Judge, not the people who surround you.  Pay attention; obey the advice of Father [priest’s name].  I love you.  You are My little sweetheart …

95:7) I speak the truth because I am truth.  Therefore, you should not judge hastily, because it is easy to let yourselves be diverted by appearances which are deceiving.  Those whom I called brood of vipers and whitened sepulchers have in fact, practiced against Me a more prolonged and colder stubbornness that the poor Apostle, successively lost among Satan’s snares and the snares of the world.  Remember and reflect.

87:9) I am the life, you are the vine shoots.  From the vine the vine shoots, from the shoots the fruit, from the fruit the wine, and later from the wine the joy of the Heavenly vine grower and of all those who before you have been transformed by My work of Redemption and glorification.

Each week we will be presenting a portion of the following Sunday’s readings, and linking it to relevant parts of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and messages from the Testimony of Catalina.  Pay special attention to the italicized underlined sections. We hope this is inspiring and educational. Any comments you have are certainly welcomed.