Know Him And Know The Way

We can spend a lot of time with someone without really hearing that person, or without mulling over what he or she says.  Even after spending so much time with people, we can even miss important truths about others, even about those we love very much.  

Jesus told His disciples where He was going they knew the way.*  He had been teaching them the way through how He lived his life.  He had taught them that unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains a single grain, but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest.**  

Jesus is the grain of wheat.  To yield a rich harvest to the glory of His Father in Heaven, He laid down his life with much love for us.  Jesus showed His disciples that the way is not to remain a single grain, but that the way was to die to oneself so as to live for others.  

Thomas expressed confusion, saying the disciples did not know where He was going, so how could they know the way?*** He took literally Jesus’ word.  Thomas had much reason to look for the figurative given Jesus' style.  In missing His meaning, Thomas missed Jesus.  

Jesus explained He is The Way, The Truth and The Life.****  The Way to the Father is through Jesus.  As we embrace Jesus, we accept the sacrifices we have to make to live in love.  Jesus told Saint Faustina He is love itself;***** The Way to Heaven is through Jesus, by living in love.  

If we know Jesus, we know love.  When we welcome Jesus into our hearts, we welcome love into our hearts.  As we listen to Jesus, to the Word of God, we are led into The Way to God Our Father. If we pay attention to Jesus, we find in Him The Way to eternal life.  

* John 14:4 

** John 12:24 

*** John 14:5 

**** John 14:6 

***** Diary of Saint Faustina, 1074.

In The Midst of Trials, Trust To Receive More

In today's Gospel reading we heard about Jesus' disciples panicking since their boat is filling with water while they're out on the lake, while Jesus is sleeping in the boat.  They wake him, and he rebukes the storm and quiets the sea, bringing a great calm.  He questions them why they are terrified, and asks them if they still don't have faith.*  

This week in California we received heavy rain, including here on the Big Sur coast.  Such a deluge of rain fell that in one spot, about seven miles north of the hermitage, both lanes of Highway 1 fell out, rendering that section of road impassable.  The rain has ended, leaving stillness.  

In the midst of trying circumstances, we can fall apart.  Yet if we have faith, we are called to witness to that faith and to the sureness and confidence it gives us.  We can recall that God brought us through fire and water, but then brought us relief.**  

We get relief through trusting God because we love Him.  God brings us through trials for our own good because we love Him.***  If we love God, then we trust Him.  When we trust in God, then God can bring us through fire and water and all sorts of supposed disasters, and we emerge miraculously better off.

As I've noted before, we grow more when we are challenged than we do when we feel comfortable.  If we want to become more than we have been, then we should welcome tribulation and apparent mishaps when they befall us.  

With each and every situation, we are asked what we want to become as a result of it.  Do we want it to unfold for our good and the good of others?  If so, then trust that God will work it to our advantage.  As Jesus told Saint Faustina, the more we trust Him, the more we receive from Him.****  

* Mark 4:35-41 

** Psalm 66:12 

*** Romans 8:28 

**** Diary of Saint Faustina, 1578.