The Lord often decides to work through people, especially members of His Body, the Church. After the Lord knocked Saul to the ground and confronted him, He did not continue His work in Saul’s life independently. He called for Ananias to be instrumental in converting Saul (Acts 9:10ff). Saul then became instrumental in converting both Jews and Gentiles.

The Lord also wants you to be His instrument. You are one of the Lord’s instruments in His plan to protect children in the womb from being aborted. You are also God’s instrument in proclaiming the Gospel to those with whom you live and work. You are God’s instrument in feeding the poor, healing the sick, and driving out demons. 

You are God’s mouth, hands, and feet. God has decided to make Himself handicapped without your obedient service. In Holy Communion, the Lord gives His Flesh and Blood to you (Jn 6:55). In a different way, you must give your flesh and blood to Him. He wants your body to be His weapon for justice (Rm 6:13). He wants you at this point in His plan of salvation (see Heb 11:40).

Many of us have prayed the “Prayer of St. Francis.” We have asked the Lord to make us “instruments” of His peace. The Lord has answered our prayer. Accept His answer. Be His instrument.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus gives many instructions to his disciples following the Last Supper they share together. Moments before their time in Gethsemane, Jesus lifts his eyes in a prayer sometimes called the Priestly Prayer. Jesus makes clear in the prayer that he knows his time on earth is coming to an end. He has done the work God sent him to do and in the prayer, Jesus asks God to glorify him. In glory, Jesus will return to God. However, that glory can only come after the cross. The cross exposes what people did to Jesus, but the resurrection reveals what God did for him. It is only through Jesus and his death and resurrection that we can know the love God has for us. Jesus also asked God to strengthen the disciples. Since Jesus would return to the Father, his mission and message must now be entrusted to the disciples. Jesus asks God to protect and unite them.

At the Last Supper Jesus told his apostles he would be leaving them to return to the Father. In today’s Gospel, he reassures them and us that we will not be alone. The Holy Spirit was sent to the disciples and is with each of us as a special helper and friend until Jesus returns to us. In the meantime, we continue to show our love for Jesus by following his commandments.

 

“If you really knew Me, you would know My Father also.” —John 14:7

We have been created by and for God the Father. Our happiness will not be complete until we are home with our Father. Every person has a hole in his heart that only God the Father can fill.

However, all human beings have a fallen, wounded nature by which we are alienated from God the Father. This puts us in an impossible situation. We cannot relate properly to the very Person Whom we cannot live without. Consequently, we are cut off from life, love, joy, peace, hope, etc.

Considering our innate desire for God the Father and yet our alienation from Him, we are shocked and filled with joy to hear the words of Jesus: “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” (Jn 14:6). Jesus is the Way to the Father, because He “is the Reflection of the Father’s glory, the exact Representation of the Father’s being” (Heb 1:3). In fact, Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in Him (Jn 14:11). Therefore, to see Jesus is to see the Father (Jn 14:9).

Jesus is the Way to overcome our alienation from the Father. He is our Savior. In Jesus, we are not separated from the Father but baptized into Him (see Mt 28:19). Jesus is our Hope, our Life, our only Way to the Father.

 

Three weeks ago, at Easter Sunday Mass, the Church led us to renew our baptismal promises. We prepared for this renewal by forty days of Lenten penance through almsgiving, prayer, and fasting (see Mt 6:3, 6, 17). The Lord wants these baptismal promises to be the center of our year and the foundation of our life in Him.

How aware (see Rm 6:3) are you of having renewed your baptismal promises three weeks ago? Have you turned off the TV and set down your phone after remembering you had rejected all of Satan’s empty promises? Have you decided not to buy something because you had rejected all of Satan’s works? When you are tempted to be manipulated by fear, do you resist because you believe God is your Father? (see Is 41:13) Has your faith in Jesus’ lordship affected your decision-making? Has your belief in the Holy Spirit noticeably affected your lifestyle?

On Easter Sunday, when we renewed our baptismal promises, we repented from all our sins, accepted Jesus as Savior, Lord, and God, sold all that we had to enter God’s kingdom (Mt 13:44-46), and surrendered our lives to the Holy Spirit. Now we must keep and apply the promises we’ve made.

 

The story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus is perhaps the most endearing of the Easter appearances. The Risen Jesus brings new hope to two men who have lost all hope. He feeds their minds and their hearts by explaining the Scriptures to them. His true identity is revealed in the bread he breaks for them. Their experience is offered to us too at every Eucharist, as we receive the Word and the Sacrament and are strengthened in holiness.