GOSPEL POWER |APRIL 30, 2021

FRIDAY | Saint Pius V, Pope| 4th Week of Easter|Gospel: Jn 14: 1 - 6

Jesus said to his disciples, “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.”

REFLECTION

Since today’s Gospel is a favorite reading for funeral  masses, Jesus’ speech about dwelling places in the Father’s  house has been interpreted almost exclusively as the afterdeath experience of heavenly bliss. But, in fact, these dwelling places  in the Father’s house are accessible to us now here on earth, for Jesus  has already prepared them by means of his passion, death, and  resurrection. By rising from the dead, Jesus has fulfilled his promise  to “come back to take us to himself, so that where he is we also may be.”  The expression dwelling places in the Father’s house refers to our divine  adoption — our becoming children of God, capable of becoming part  of the intimacy that the only-begotten Son enjoys with his Father.  Physical death will only be the final unveiling and full enjoyment of  this intimate relationship. But we do not have to wait until we have  crossed over to the next life to begin occupying the dwelling places Jesus has prepared for us. Eternity begins now

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, help us to live on earth in a manner worthy of our new status  as God’s children and citizens of God’s eternal Kingdom. Amen.