JESUS OUR WAY OUR TRUTH AND OUR LIFE

It was Pope St. John Paul II who on World Youth Day 1993 told the young people in Denver that: “Only in Christ can men and women find answers to the ultimate questions… Jesus Christ is the only Son from the Father…full of grace and truth.”

He also said something I want you to hold onto this day: “We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures; we are the sum of the Father’s love for us and our real capacity to become the image of his Son.” That’s who we are. But how do we get there? Jesus gives us the answer: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

Life needs a GPS. Jesus is it. To use GPS you punch in two things: where you are, and where you’re going. Spiritual life works the same. So ask yourself: Where am I with Jesus right now? Is my commitment full time or part time? Do I really recognize Him as “the way, the truth, and the life” (Jn 14:6)?

Jesus is the Way because He walked it first. He followed the Father’s plan all the way to the Cross, freely laying down His life for us. To accept Jesus as our Way means, joyfully accepting God’s plan for our life, even when it’s the narrow way of humility, self-giving, and service. It’s not easy. But it’s the only road to the Father.

Jesus is the Truth because He is the Father’s Word. “The Father who sent me has himself given me commandment what to say and what to speak” (Jn 12:49). Jesus doesn’t just speak the truth. He is Truth. He reveals the whole truth about God: that the Father is loving, merciful, and lives in us. Without Him, our vision of God, ourselves, and the world is distorted. As Thomas à Kempis said: “Without the Truth, there is no knowing.”

Jesus is the Life because He gives His own life to us. By emptying Himself on the Cross, Jesus received the fullness of life from the Father and became its source for us. He is Life itself, and He shares it through the Holy Spirit and the Sacraments- “Without the Life, there is no living.”

An example is when the early Church faced a problem: Greek-speaking widows were being overlooked. The apostles lived Jesus as Way, Truth, and Life. They didn’t ignore it or fight. They prayed, discerned the truth, and created the way forward by ordaining deacons. They kept worship and mission first. Truth led to a new way that gave life.

Jesus isn’t a hobby. It’s a whole-life venture. It means union with Him in mind, heart, will, and action.

Yes, it’s the way of the Cross. But remember John Paul II reminds us that: “You are the sum of the Father’s love for you. You are held in the Shepherd’s hand.”

So this week, see Jesus as your GPS. Ask Him: “Lord, where am I? Where are you taking me? Show me the next step.” And then take it. Because He is the Way. He is the Truth. He is the Life.

For in the words of Thomas à Kempis: “Without the Way, there is no going. Without the Truth, there is no knowing. Without life, there is no living.”