23 November 2026 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malankara Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.” John 14:1
In the last week of the year the Church hears again the promise of the Father's house: “In my Father's house there are many dwelling places… I go to prepare a place for you.” The Church on earth is the antechamber of that house.
Paul says that in Christ the dividing wall is broken down, and “through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father.” We are “being built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.” Jesus is not only the destination but the Way: “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”
Theme: “The Way to the Father's house.”
The promise of many dwelling places and access to the Father in one Spirit.
“As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you.” Isaiah 66:13
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.” John 14:1
Apply: Hand over one anxiety to Jesus each time it returns.
“The LORD make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you.” Numbers 6:25
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”” John 14:6
Apply: Pray: “Jesus, show me the way today.”
“Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! For lo, I will come and dwell in your midst, says the LORD.” Zechariah 2:10
“Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”” John 14:9
Apply: Spend five minutes looking at a crucifix and seeing the Father's love.
The Father's house has a room for each of us.
Jesus is the Way there.
Take-home resolution: Pray John 14:1–6 each morning this week.
Dear friends, in the last week of the year the Church hears again the promise of the Father's house: do not let your hearts be troubled. In my Father's house there are many dwelling places; I go to prepare a place for you (John 14:1–2). Thomas the Apostle asks: how can we know the way? Jesus answers: I am the way, and the truth, and the life (John 14:5–6).
Paul says that in Christ the dividing wall has been broken down: you are no longer strangers and aliens, but citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on Christ the cornerstone, growing into a dwelling place for God in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:19–22).
The Church on earth is the porch of that house. As the season of the Dedication of the Church ends, let us ask: am I a visitor in my parish, or a member of God's household? This week let us decide to take an active part in one ministry of the parish. Amen.
Children, Jesus said: I am the way. If we follow Jesus, we will reach the Father's house in heaven!
Lord Jesus, you are the Way to the Father. Calm my troubled heart, build me into your dwelling, and bring me home to the place you have prepared. Amen.
Both readings speak of access to the Father. Ephesians says that Christ has broken down the wall between peoples and built them into one house, “a dwelling place for God”. In John, Jesus promises his anxious disciples a place in his Father’s house and calls himself the way to it. The Church, in this season of the Dedication, is the house being built and the road home.
Setting.
Paul reminds Gentile Christians that they were once “far off”, outside the covenants of Israel, “but now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (2:13). The “dividing wall” recalls the barrier in the Jerusalem Temple that kept Gentiles out of the inner courts; stone notices warning them not to pass it have been found by archaeologists.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.” (2:14)
The wall that is broken is the hostility, not Israel’s calling. Paul, a Jew, rejoices that Gentiles now share in Israel’s hope.
“for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father.” (2:18)
A small creed of the Trinity: through the Son, in the Spirit, to the Father. This is also the shape of Christian prayer.
“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God,” (2:19)
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism gathers the images of the Church as God’s building, with Christ as the stone rejected by the builders that became the cornerstone, and the Church as the dwelling of God among his people (CCC 756). The Second Vatican Council uses the same images in Lumen Gentium 6. Every church building, consecrated for worship, is a sign of this living temple of people.
Setting.
Jesus speaks at the Last Supper, after Judas has gone out and after he has foretold Peter’s denial (13:30–38). The disciples are afraid: their Master is leaving them. Chapters 14–17 are his farewell words, and they begin with comfort.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”” (14:5)
Thomas asks the honest question many hearts carry, and his question draws out one of the greatest sayings in the Gospel.
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (14:6)
Three words, one Person. He is the way because he is the truth about God and gives the life of God.
“Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” (14:9)
Jesus is not one more messenger. In his face, words and deeds the Father is made visible.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism teaches that Christ’s whole life is a revelation of the Father, and quotes this verse: “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (CCC 516). It names Jesus Christ, “the way, and the truth, and the life”, as the first and last point of reference of all Christian teaching on the moral life (CCC 1698). Prayer “in his name” is prayer united to him and to his will (CCC 2614).
If Christ is the only way, what about those who never heard of him?
The Church teaches that all who are saved are saved through Christ, but that God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel and seek God with a sincere heart (Lumen Gentium 16; CCC 847). Christ remains the way, even for those who do not yet know his name.
For the St Thomas Christians the Gospel has a special note: it is the Apostle Thomas whose question, “How can we know the way?”, draws from the Lord the word “I am the way, and the truth, and the life”. The faith our fathers received from Thomas is faith in this way.