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.”
Homily
Only Jesus Can Satisfy Our Souls
From ancient times, philosophers have summed up the human condition as a quest to answer three fundamental questions: What should I do? What can I know? What can I hope for?
In response to the common-sense comment of doubting Thomas, Jesus gives us the definitive answer to each one of these questions when he tells us that he is the way, the truth, and the life. Actually, Jesus doesn’t just give us the answer—he is the answer!
“I am the way” can translate into: What should you do? “Follow me! Do what I have done.”
“I am the truth” means: What can you know? “You can know everything, if only you know me. Knowing me, more and more every day, you know the secret behind the whole universe and the deepest yearnings of the human heart, because I made them both. I am the eternal Word, the very Wisdom of God.”
“I am the life” means: What can you hope for? “In me and through me, you can hope for the fullness of life that you long for in the very depths of your soul. You can hope for your very own room in my Father’s house in heaven because I have gone to prepare it for you. In my Father’s house all sorrows turn to joy, all weakness turns to strength, and life grows more alive as eternity unfolds.”
Jesus is truly the living water that quenches every thirst. He is truly the light that scatters all darkness. The quest of every human being to satisfy the deepest longings of the heart is ultimately the quest to see Jesus face to face. As St Augustine wrote, “O God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts will ever restless be until they find their rest in Thee.” It is only because Christ has given us himself, his friendship, his own life, that he can give us true peace of heart.
Let Your Hearts Be at Peace
Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us in his Father’s house, a place that no one can take away from us. The whole universe is ours, because Jesus is ours. In the midst of troubles, temptations, sicknesses, failures, and even our sins, Jesus is always by our side, loving, guiding, and upholding us. When we accept this truth, we begin to experience true peace of heart, the kind that doesn’t depend on our mood or our circumstances.
Today Jesus will renew his commitment to us in this Mass. When he does, let’s ask him to increase our faith in his goodness, so that we can follow him more closely and learn to obey his beautiful command that he gives us in this Sunday’s Gospel: “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”