Gospel Acclamation: Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

I am the way, the truth and the life, says the Lord; no one comes to the Father, except through Me.

Jesus' words in today's Gospel Acclamation are words that we could meditate on for our whole lives without reaching their depths. Jesus does not say that He shows the way (although He does). He says He is the way. Jesus does not say that He tells the truth (although He does). He says He is the truth. Jesus does not say that He gives life (although He does). He says He is the life.

These are statements that only God can make. Only the divine Being, the One Who is Being, can equate Himself with the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus is declaring His divinity here, clearly and forcefully.

And Jesus adds that the only way to go to the Father is through Him. Only Jesus can get us home to Heaven, for He is the One Who died for us on the cross to open the way to Heaven. He is the One Who has freed us from our sins. He is the Son, and we are sons and daughters only in the Son. Jesus brings us to God the Father, and He is the only One Who can do that.

So we must cling to Jesus and accept Him as the way, the truth, and the life, the One Who can lead us home to the Father.