Readings: Acts 1:15-17, 20a, 20c-26; Psalm 103:1- 2, 11-12, 19-20(19a); 1 John 4:11-16; John 17:11b-19
During our Easter celebration we give thanks to God for the gift of Jesus as the Way, The Truth and the Life. We thank him for the gift of faith that gives us the confidence and the strength to imitate Christ, striving to share His spirit of love with those with whom we interact. The earliest disciples and the Apostles had the gift of knowing Jesus from those who either had their own first hand experience of Jesus’ life and teaching or from hearing accounts from those who did. Jesus clearly recognized that His earthly experience was to be limited. He also realized that the “truth” of the Word of God would have to be carried forth to generations to come. How would the truth be carried forward in His absence?
Jesus’ prayer to the Father was that we be consecrated to the truth. If it is our responsibility to live the truth of Jesus Christ, it is incumbent upon us to seek always to know the truth. Scripture tells us that Christ left the apostles and their successors in place as guardians of the truth of who He is, what He taught and the love of the Father. He sought to share all of this through His life, death and resurrection. That is why we do not believe in Scripture alone but the truth that is preserved and amplified through Tradition and the Magisterial teaching of the Church.