5th Sunday of Easter

The Home Guard was an important part of Britain's Second World War experience. Men who could not serve in the armed forces were either conscripted or volunteered to serve their country in an improvised defensive body that patrolled the coast and countryside of Britain looking out for invasion. The body has been immortalised in the series Dad's Army, which, now old, never ceases to  entertain. The reason I mention this crew is, recently I saw a documentary on them and the period of the early years of World War 2. When Britain feared invasion after the fall of France, there was almost hysteria in the country. The Army, it was believed was not ready to defend, the RAF was stretched to the limits. There were stories of infiltration behind the lines by the enemy. Hundreds of Germans and Austrians were interned in huge camps on the Isle of Mann and other remoter areas. There was an interesting comment that when a group of Austrians together the founded tea-shops and a university! Remarkably in the Austrian interment camps, which were secured streets in towns really, tea shops and schools offering courses in languages and philosophy emerged all over the place! That's by the way.

Why I refer to all is business is that one thing the Home Guard had to do in preparation for possible invasion was the removal all road-signs and confiscation of maps. There are iconic pictures of signs painted over and removed to prevent any possible invader  finding there way around. If a spy dropped and did not know the lie of the land he could easily be caught, betrayed by the simple fact he did not know where he was going.

Directions are important. They are everywhere. If we are driving about in a place we do not know, once we have directions we will muddle through. A map, a sat-nav, AA-route Finder - all these things we use to find our bearings and get from A to B. Even if we end up going by C, D and E as long as we have directions we will get there.

Jesus tells us today that He is the Way, the Truth and Life. Not one without the other two, but all three; way, truth and life. He is the way that leads to truth and life, the life that way of truth, that truth, the way that brings life in all its fullness. The disciples were afraid that they would not find the way if He was taken from them. Jesus reminds them that in HIMSELF resides the way, the truth and the life.

Life can, by times, seem directionless. We work hard, we care for our families, we struggle and stumble and try to get through as best we can. Sometimes it can be very difficult. These days there seems to be obstacles at every turn, making this life of ours very much the valley of tears. The Lord reminds us today that to have seen Him is to have seen the Father. In our faith we have received the consolation of knowing that Christ is our guide - God Himself. The Apostles, His closest collaborators, on whom he laid the foundations of the Church by times lost sight of us. He gently, but firmly reminds us that He is the direction we must follow, for no one can come to the Father but through him.

As we continue to meet Him in the Scriptures and the Breaking of the Bread, as we follow Him as members of the Church, may Christ fill us with the knowledge of Himself. We must trust in Him, for He is truth itself. Christ does not make false promises, His word is good. Listening to Him, believing in Him, following what He teaches through the Church, will bring us to the Father. He is the way, He is the only way to life, to truth, to Heaven.