Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.
Do not let your hearts be troubled, Jesus said. Today's Gospel is taken from what he said at the Last Supper, and the apostles' hearts were troubled for several reasons.
After washing their feet, Jesus foretold that one of them would betray him. Then he said that he would go, but they could not follow him. When Peter said that he was willing to follow him, even at the cost of his own life, Jesus predicted his triple denial of Christ.
It seems that everything is about to go wrong. Betrayal looms, they will be separated from their master, and even the prince of the apostles, the strongest among them, will deny him. After saying that they should not be troubled, Christ does not explain everything, but tries to make them understand the fact that he will go where they cannot follow him. It is not something which they should be sad about, but it is for their good. That separation will turn to their advantage, for he goes to prepare a place for them. And if the journey that he proposes to make is curious, listen carefully. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to myself, so that where I am, you also may be.
So certainly there's nothing strange in going and then returning and bringing others with you. But how is it that Christ does this so that where I am, you also may be? If he is already there, why does he have to go there? And aren't the apostles already where he is, in the upper room?
But it is not to the upper room that he is going, but to heaven. He is already in heaven, in that he is God, and in that his soul sees the beatific vision. But he is not there with his soul and body, there in the place of the blessed. That is where he must go, and in order to go there, he must die. For it is by his death, resurrection, and ascension that he prepares a place for the elect. So he will be separated from them for a while by death, into which they cannot now follow him. But afterwards, he will return to take them with him. He goes to the Father's house, where there are many mansions, or many dwelling places. So there is room in heaven for everyone. If not everyone goes, it is because of lack of effort on their part, not because God does not want them there. Jesus wants each of us in heaven so much that he shed every drop of his blood to make it possible. But we have to make that blood count for us. There are many mansions also in another sense, in that the glory of heaven is not equal for everyone, but it is more for those who had greater charity in this life, and less for those who had less charity. And furthermore to this essential glory, which depends on charity, other glories are added to reward particular works, such as martyrdom. The apostles could not come with Christ then, for it was the time in which he was to work the redemption. Later, by martyrdom, they would follow him. But they could have no part in accomplishing the redemption itself, but only in applying its fruits. There is only one person whom God associated with him in that tremendous moment, our beloved co-redemptrix, Mary. But when the time of his death came, he alone crossed that terrible threshold, for he alone had the power to lay down his life, and the power to take it up again. The rest of us associate ourselves with him in the way St.
Peter speaks of in the second reading. We offer ourselves in union with him as spiritual sacrifices through the holy priesthood we received in baptism. The priesthood of the baptized is not that which makes the Eucharist present, but that which enables us to unite our lives to the Eucharistic sacrifice, to offer ourselves with Jesus. During the Last Supper, the apostles did not understand what Jesus was saying. When he says, where I am going, you know the way, Thomas replies, Master, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way? Then, in this way, St. Thomas gives the occasion for this sublime teaching. I am the way, and the truth, and the light. No one comes to the Father except through me. So he is the way to the Father, the only way.
Before, there was no way at all, but the Eternal Word made himself our way. St. Augustine explains, he is with the Father, the truth, and the light, and we had no way whereby to go to the truth. So the Son of God, who is ever in the Father, the truth, and the light, by assuming man's nature, became the way. Because he is the way, the truth, and the light, Christ can say, if you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on, you do know him, and have seen him. Philip then asks him to show them the Father. His desire is excellent. It is quite true that it is enough to see the Father, for this is the beatific vision. But he has not understood what Christ said earlier.
I and the Father are one. So Jesus says, whoever has seen me, has seen the Father. And adds, do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? Each of the divine persons is God, and is in God, and so each is in every other divine person. The Father is in the Son, because the Son is God, and the Father is not another God. The Son is in the Father, because the Father is God, and the Son is not another God. The Son is not the Father, nor is the Father the Son. Yet they are not two gods, but one God with the Holy Spirit. So Jesus says, the words that I speak to you, I do not speak on my own. The Father, who dwells in me, is doing his works. It is as if Jesus said, if you hear me, you hear the Father. If I rebuke, if I speak gently, the words are the Father's. If you see me, you see the Father, as far as the eyes of the body can see the Father, for the works I do are his. If I heal, it is because the Father chooses to heal. If I die for your salvation, it is because the Father loves you. In Christ Jesus, we see what the Father would do if you are man, for the Son is one God with the Father, and the Son became man. And if we do not see Jesus before our eyes, if we cannot see his works, see his actions, we have the saints.
Jesus solemnly says, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. Because he goes to the Father, he will send the Holy Spirit, who will dwell in believers to make them children of God. And as children of God, they can do the works of the Father. But how can one do greater works in Christ, who raised a man four days dead? Because it is a greater work to give eternal life to a soul than to give earthly life to a body, and the Church does this on a greater scale. Christ brought Lazarus back to life, but eventually he died again. Raising the dead only puts off the inevitable. We need a life that does not end, and this is what faith gives us. Jesus said to Martha, I am the redemption, and I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Christ's works did not succeed in leading many to believe in him during his life, but the works of his disciples, which God works in them, brought millions and hundreds of millions to faith and eternal life. And we disciples do this still more effectively when we explicitly work through Our Lady. Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.