Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life – for every person who has ever lived, is currently alive, or will ever be brought into being. This is a firm reminder that, in order for us to know ourselves and to find our purpose, we need to know Jesus personally, and associate our own identity with the divine person of Christ. It’s not enough for us to simply know about Jesus and the general contour of His life, like we’ve memorized a few pieces of Catholic trivia – we’re called to learn the very details of His mission, and to contemplate all of the events of His life that are revealed to us in Sacred Scripture. Reading and meditation on the Gospel is essential if we want to know Jesus, and by extension, ourselves.
We should strive to read the Gospel with a longing to know Jesus and to fall ever more in love with Him. We can’t just read Sacred Scripture like any other book or blog, because unlike those things, the Word is alive, and wants to change our lives to be more like His. We should want to read the Gospels to know more about Jesus, and to know Him as intimately as the disciples who followed him on the way. Reading the Gospels is a real danger to our previous way of life, as Jesus desires us to make ourselves like Him, and to sacrifice those things which hold us back from true happiness. He assures us, though, that His yoke is easy, His burden is light, and that He has prepared a place for us with the Father.
Perhaps a worthy exercise for us, today, is to briefly examine how often we’ve prayed with Sacred Scripture during the course of the Easter season, and to commit ourselves to being more faithful to the riches which are freely available to us in the Gospels. Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life, show us the way to the Father, help us to immerse ourselves in Sacred Scripture, and so conform our lives to yours.
