28 January 2027 · Syro-Malankara Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malabar Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“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
Hebrews gives a community in change three anchors. Remember your leaders who spoke God's word to you, and imitate their faith. Hold to Christ, who does not change: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” And worship in two ways: “let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” Praise and charity are the Christian's sacrifices.
In the Gospel Jesus comforts his troubled disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house there are many dwelling places.” Thomas asks: “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” And Jesus answers with one of the greatest sentences of the Gospel: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” In this week of Kohne we remember the priests who showed us that way, among them Fr John Kuzhinapurath, and St Thomas Aquinas, who gave his mind to the Truth and his heart to the Life.
Theme: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”
Faithful leaders, the unchanging Christ, and the Way to the Father.
“For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, have not perished.” Malachi 3:6
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Hebrews 13:8
Apply: Bring one anxiety about change to the unchanging Christ.
“For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” Hosea 6:6
“Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” Hebrews 13:16
Apply: Share something with someone in need.
“You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11
“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 for a priest who showed you the way.
Christ does not change; he is the way home.
Praise, share, and remember those who led us.
Take-home resolution: Pray each day this week for departed priests.
Dear friends, Hebrews says: remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith (Hebrews 13:7). In this Kohne week we remember departed priests, among them Fr John Kuzhinapurath.
Leaders pass, but Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). Our sacrifices are praise and sharing: do not neglect to do good and to share what you have (Hebrews 13:16).
In the Gospel Jesus says: do not let your hearts be troubled. Thomas asks: how can we know the way? Jesus answers: I am the way, and the truth, and the life (John 14:6).
St Thomas Aquinas gave his mind to the Truth and his heart to the Life. Let us follow the Way, praise God, share with others and pray for our priests. Amen.
Children, Jesus said: I am the way! He shows us how to go to heaven. Let us pray for the priests who teach us about Jesus.
Lord Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever, you are the way, the truth and the life. Grant eternal rest to Fr John Kuzhinapurath and all our departed priests; through the prayers of St Thomas Aquinas give us minds that seek truth and hearts that offer praise and charity. Amen.
In this week after Kohne Sunday the Church is still thinking of those who led her. Hebrews tells a tired community to remember its leaders, to hold on to the Christ who does not change, and to offer the sacrifices of praise and of sharing. John takes us into the Upper Room, where Jesus comforts frightened disciples and answers the question of the way. St Thomas the Apostle asks the question; St Thomas Aquinas, remembered today, gave his life to its answer.
Setting.
Hebrews calls itself a “word of exhortation” (13:22). It is a sermon for Christians, probably of Jewish background, who were growing tired. Its author is not named. Chapter 13 gathers its last practical counsels.
Verses 11–13 draw on the Day of Atonement: the bodies of the animals whose blood was carried into the sanctuary were burned outside the camp (Leviticus 16:27). The writer sees in this a sign of Jesus, who died outside the walls of Jerusalem (compare John 19:20). His point is to call Christians to Christ, not to speak against Israel's worship, which he sees as a shadow pointing forward (10:1).
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (13:8)
It stands between the memory of leaders who have gone and the warning against new teachings. Leaders die and fashions change. The one they preached does not.
“Let us then go to him outside the camp and bear the abuse he endured.” (13:13)
To be with Christ may mean leaving the safe place. Holiness is found not by keeping away from the place of shame, but by going where he went.
“Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” (13:16)
Worship and sharing are named with the same word, sacrifice. The hand that gives is doing what the lips do at the altar.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism uses this passage when it lists the names of the Eucharist (CCC 1330). It also teaches that the Eucharist is the sacrifice of the whole Church, and that the lives of the faithful, their praise, sufferings, prayer and work are joined to Christ's offering and gain a new value (CCC 1368). Every Holy Qurbono joins the two things the reading holds together: praise of God and care for the neighbour.
Setting.
We are at the supper on the night before Jesus died. He has washed the disciples' feet (13:1–20). Judas has gone out into the night (13:30), Jesus has said that he is leaving them (13:33), and Peter has just been told that he will deny him (13:38). Chapters 14–17 are often called the Farewell Discourse. The fear in the room is real, and these words answer it.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.” (14:1)
“Your” is plural: he speaks to the whole frightened group. The second part puts faith in Jesus beside faith in God, which is a large claim made on a very dark night.
“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.” (14:3)
Heaven is described here not as a place first but as being with him. The Catechism takes this up: to live in heaven is to be with Christ (CCC 1025).
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (14:6)
Thomas asked an honest question, and the Lord does not scold him. He answers about himself. Truth and life here are not ideas but a person.
How the Church reads it.
Left to its own powers, humanity has no access to the Father's house, says the Catechism, and only Christ can open it (CCC 661). St Thomas Aquinas, in his commentary on John, says that Christ is both the way and the goal: the way in his humanity, the goal in his divinity (in substance). The Second Vatican Council quotes this verse when it says that the Church must always proclaim Christ, even as she respects whatever is true and holy in other religions (Nostra Aetate 2).
If no one comes to the Father except through Jesus, what happens to people who never knew him?
The Church holds both truths. All salvation comes through Christ. Yet those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel, but seek God with a sincere heart and try by grace to do his will, may also reach eternal salvation (Lumen Gentium 16; CCC 847). They too are saved through Christ, even without knowing his name, and this does not take away the Church's duty to proclaim him (CCC 848).
Thomas is the Apostle whom the St Thomas Christians of India honour as their father in faith, and here he is the one who dares to say “we do not know”. St Thomas Aquinas (died 1274), Doctor of the Church, is remembered today in our calendar. In this week of Kohne we may thank God for the priests who first showed us the way, and imitate their faith as Hebrews asks.