My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I love today’s readings, for two reasons.  First, the letter of Peter reminds us that “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own…”  Second, Jesus promises us in the Gospel: “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places…  I go and prepare a place for you..  I will come back again and take you to myself so that where I am you also may be.”

Now, let us look at our real-life experiences.  We are Catholics, we are chosen by God through the sacrament of Baptism; we are all general priests and we are the Holy Nation of the Catholic Church.  Especially through, in and with the Church, we have the privilege of calling God our Father; we have the map showing us how to get to heaven.  In recent years, the GPS, that is, the Global Positioning System, has become extremely popular.  The GPS device knows your exact location .  You just type into the GPS where you want to go, then the GPS tells you each street to turn on, and exactly where to drive.  People trust the voice of the GPS.

No doubt that we have our own problems in this life.  Perhaps we want to know “the way” out of these problems sometimes.  We wonder if we would have a “spiritual GPS” to show us “the way” to get from debt to financial freedom, from addiction to freedom, from bad luck to good luck, from poor to rich, from a sinful person to a holy person, from this world to the next world and, above all, from death to eternal life, etc…  We want directions for the way out.  We ask: How can we know the “way” out of our situations?  Then we want a roadmap, but we should thank God that He has a better plan,  He gives us clear directions in the form of a Person, Jesus: “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me.”  Thus, Jesus is our “GPS.”  He knows our exact physical location on earth.  Moreover, He knows exactly where we are spiritually, emotionally, and mentally.  In other words, Jesus knows it all, but ultimately His plan for us is always the perfect will of God.  Perhaps we should ask: “Where do we go or where should we end up?”  Our ultimate destination is to spend eternity with God in heaven.  In fact, Jesus is the Way, the Gate and the Good Shepherd, with whom we could have eternal rest, endless joy and happiness in the Kingdom of God.

Let us together pray to Jesus: “Lord Jesus, we believe that you are the Way, the Truth and the Life.”  Please tell us where to turn, what road we to take and what we should avoid.  We resolve to come into your Kingdom because you already have prepared a place for each one of us.”

With love,
Fr. Thuong Hoai Nguyen