Entries

Day 19

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John (14:1-7)

Jesus said, ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.’ Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, 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, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’

From his treatise On Death as a Blessing by St. Ambrose of Milan

Let us march forward intrepidly to meet our Redeemer, Jesus, pursuing our onward course without swerving until we come to the assembly of the saints and are welcomed by the company of the just. It is to join our Christian forebears that we are journeying, to those who taught us our faith – that faith which comes to our aid and safeguards our heritage for us even when we have no good works to show. In the place where making for the Lord will be everyone’s light; the true light which enlightens every human person will shine upon all. In the house where we are going the Lord Jesus has prepared many resting places for his servants, so that where he is we also may be. This was his express desire. Listen to his own words: In my Father’s house there are many resting places. And: I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.

You may say, perhaps, that he was speaking only to his disciples, and it was to them alone that he promised there would be many resting places. So you suppose he was preparing only for the eleven? And what of that statement of his about people coming from all sides to take their seats in the kingdom of God? Have we any grounds for doubting that God’s will is effective? With Christ, surely, to will a thing is to accomplish it. In short, the Lord has not only shown us the way we are to travel, he has also pointed out our destination. Where I am going you know, he says, and the way there is known to you. This destination is our Father’s house, and our way to it is Christ, as his own words assure us: I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

Let us set out, then, upon this way, holding fast to the truth and following in the footsteps of life. Christ is the way that leads us, the truth that strengthens us, and the life that restores us to life in him.

To make sure that we really understand his will, our Lord prays a few minutes later: Father, it is my desire that those whom you have given me be with me where I am, so that they may see my glory. How graciously our Lord asks his Father here to grant what he himself had promised earlier! The promise came first and then the request, not the other way round. Conscious of his authority and knowing the gift was at his own disposal, he made the promise; then as if to exemplify his filial submission, he asked his Father to grant it. Through the one instance we are made aware of his power; through the other, his loving deference to his Father.

Yes, Lord Jesus, we do follow you. But we can only come at your bidding. No one can make the ascent without you, for you are our way, our truth, our life, our strength, our faith, our reward. We belong to you; be the way that carries us onward, the truth that inspires us with courage, and the life that fills us with renewed vigour.

Musical Selection (Melanie DeMore)

Spirit's made a place for you

Where everything new

Love has made apace for you

Where everything is new

Grace has made a place for you

Where everything is new

Prayer

Into your hands, O Lord,

we humbly entrust our brother and sisters.

In this life you embraced them with your tender love;

deliver them now from every evil

and bid them enter eternal rest.

The old order has passed away:

welcome them then into paradise,

where there will be no sorrow, no weeping nor pain,

but the fullness of peace and joy

with your Son and the Holy Spirit

for ever and ever. Amen.

Archives