Finding Your Way

The Fifth Sunday of Easter
Today’s Readings: [Click here]

In our first reading today, we see the apostles celebrate the sacrament of holy orders and ordain the very first group of deacons. The text says that the community presented seven men to the apostles “who prayed and laid hands on them.”

How did the apostles find out how to perform an ordination? You can study the bible carefully, and no place does Jesus teach them explicitly how to do this.

This is really a rather fascinating question.

People sometimes ask me what they teach you in seminary—the school where new priests are trained. Well, to begin with, there’s a certain amount of “knowledge” or “book learning” that you need to be a priest, so seminarians study the scriptures, morality, theology, church history, canon law, the sacraments, the organization of the church, and so on. There’s also training and practice sessions on how to celebrate the rites of the church: how to perform a baptism, how to hear confessions, how to say mass, how to anoint the sick. Seminary also teaches the candidates for priesthood various practical skills—everything from basic counseling to financial management for parishes.

But preparing for priesthood is not just learning a detailed set of skills. In fact, the most important aspect of priestly formation is building a relationship with Jesus Christ. The one destined to become a priest must become a person of prayer and faith, because the deepest answers do not come from a seminary class or a bishop or a church document or the pope—but from God himself—delivered individually and personally. God calls each priest by name… says “Follow me”… and then leads him by the hand along a unique path.

So back to my earlier question: how did the apostles learn to pray over their deacon candidates and lay hands on them? Very simply, from their profound relationship with Christ and by being instructed, in their heart, by the Holy Spirit. This is an ongoing process through life, and clearly one that is quite mysterious.

The wonderful dialog in the gospel between Jesus and Thomas dances around this supernatural process. Jesus tells Thomas to follow him where he’s going because he knows the way. Thomas scratches his head and says “How can I know the way when I don’t even know where you’re going?” And then Jesus delivers the mysterious line that contains the answer: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

So what is the way to ordain a deacon? “I am the way,” says Jesus.

What is the way to be a priest? “I am the way,” says Jesus.

What is the way for each and every one of us to live our life? “I am the way,” says Jesus. Yes, each human being has to find their way in the Lord.

Regrettably, most people don’t bother to try. They have no interest in anything beyond their worldly concerns: food, clothes, job, sex, fun… and then one day, Game Over. It’s a bit sad.

I’m in the process, finally, of reading the last Harry Potter novel—number seven. Harry is on a magnificent quest. He doesn’t have a lot of answers. He’s really flying blind. So he has to think, pray, deduce, wrack his brain for insights, and so on, to piece together many tiny clues. Eventually, he pulls it together. But the point is, he makes his life his own. He lives on his own terms to maximize his potential and his fulfillment… and to find his mission in life.

And truthfully, it’s supposed to be the same with us. My journey is not your journey. Your journey is not my journey. Yes, we can teach each other a lot: we can share our experiences, our successes and failures, various tricks and shortcuts, and other external things to help us do stuff… BUT it’s the interior part that is special, unique and blessed. How the Spirit moves me or you is a way that’s different from how that Spirit moves any other human being. And it’s up to us, as discrete individuals, to find our own particular path. That’s the mission God has given us.

Jesus loves us without limit, and that’s why he invites us to this higher level. He says to us: you want the perfect way? That’s me. You want the best, most fulfilling, most amazing life? That’s me. You want the truth about everything you want to know? Yep, that’s also me. Right this way to your own special dwelling place in the Father’s house…

Our first step in the right direction—our first step along the way that Jesus is—is to catch God’s loving spark. In fact, the reason the church recommends that we pray every day, come to mass every weekend, practice our religion faithfully… is precisely so we increase the chances that the spark will grab hold of us. And how we should make that our quest! In the words of today’s psalm, let us place our trust in God to guide us there.

“I am the way and the truth and the life,” says Jesus. Yes, Lord… I’m ready. Please show me.