Today's Gospel

Guard Your Peace

It's a fantastic reading. There's so much here. Did something jump out at you, a word or phrase or idea? The opening line, I think, is always relevant in our modern world. Jesus says, "Let not your hearts be troubled. Let not your hearts be troubled." But we do. We do let our hearts be troubled. We let our hearts be troubled by many, many things. We let our hearts be troubled by silly things, things that should never even get near our hearts, things we should be guarding our hearts from all the time. Someone cuts us off in traffic, we let our hearts get troubled. Someone cancels an appointment with us, we let our hearts be troubled. These things, these everyday inconveniences, annoyances, frustrations, we should be guarding our hearts from these things. They should never be able to get anywhere near the peace of our hearts. But we do. We let our hearts be troubled. And today Jesus is saying to us, "Let not your hearts be troubled." so that's massive. Maybe you heard that, and that was the one for you today. The second section of this reading, Jesus talks about heaven. He says, "I'm going to prepare a place for you. There's plenty of room. If there wasn't, I wouldn't have said, 'I'm going to prepare a place for you.'"

And so what does it mean that He is preparing a place for you? And are we mindful of that, "Jesus is preparing a place for me"? And if we are mindful of it, do we then honor that? Of course, then Thomas and Philip, they've got their questions. And Thomas is like, "Jesus, you say we know the way. But we don't know the way. So tell us the way, man, and we will get right on that." And of course, out of that, we get this epic line in the gospels, Jesus saying, "I am the way and the truth and the life."

And it struck me differently today as I was reading it. And what struck me is how often do I apply and invite Jesus into a situation because he is not the way, the truth, and the life of some things and some people in some situations. He is the way, the truth, and the life of all things, and all people, and all situations. But I think there are many situations where I just don't think of it. I just don't think, "Okay, if Jesus—" especially if it's a problem, right? "If Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, how is he the way in this problem and out of this problem?" Or if it's an opportunity, "How is he the way forward in this opportunity?" And I guess I'd not thought of it like that before, the practical implication.

The last verse has always fascinated me. So it's John 14:12, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do, and greater works than these will he do because I go to the Father." If you think about that, okay? So we're not literalists, we're not fundamentalists. But what was Jesus saying? He said, "You'll do the same works that I did," and you'll do even greater works than Jesus did. So where is that in the life of the church today? When has that been present in the life of the church before today? Has it been present in the life of the church before today? And how do we make it present in our lives?

We claim to be believers of Jesus. We claim to be disciples of Jesus. We believe in Him. He said if we believe in him, "You will do the works I did and even greater works." So what are these greater works, and where are these greater works? And if they don't exist in the church and haven't existed in the church, what do we have to do to collaborate with Jesus to manifest them in the way that he imagined right here when he's speaking? How do we bring to life the works of Jesus in our own lives in greater works than these? How do we do that? What obstacles do we have to overcome in our hearts and our minds and our souls to open ourselves to collaborating with God, collaborating with Jesus to do great works in this world, at this time, where we are, with what we've got? Have a great day. And remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.