Joke: A little boy is sent to bed by his mother... [5 minutes later] "Mom..." "What?" "I'm thirsty. Can you bring me a glass of water?" "No. You had your chance. Lights out." [5 minutes later] "Mom..." "WHAT?" "I'm thirsty...Can I have a glass of water?" "I told you NO! If you ask again I'll have to spank you!!" [5 minutes later] "Mommm..." "WHAT??!!" "When you come in to spank me, can you bring me a glass of water please?"

The little boy ignores the spanking just to satisfy his thirst, Jesus Christ abandons himself as God to come to us in our human flesh so to show us the way to the Father. How beautiful it is to honor our mothers this weekend when the Church invites us to follow the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Our mother, in a sense, is truly the way, the truth, and the life for us in this walk of life. Why do I say that? It is because none of us come into existence without a mother. Without our mother, there is no way that we can come into this world. We are in debt to our mother. Since she carried us in her womb, protect us, nurture us, and teach when we are born, she truly teaches us the way to walk, speak, eat, and many other things. She also teaches us to tell the truth and avoid telling lies. The way she cares for us from when we are young to when we are not young anymore truly teaches us the meaning of life. (Should we give all our mothers applause to thank them from the bottom of our hearts?)

Jesus vests on himself our human nature that we often see him as a man rather than God, and that we find ourselves easy to relate to him. When Jesus mentioned to his disciples that he was going to prepare a place for them in his father’s house, Thomas asked him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” To this, Jesus responds, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus’ disciples time after time missed seeing him as God and as the Son of God but as a friend and a brother to them. Make no mistake when he called them friends, brothers, and sisters who listened to him. John the Baptist recognized Jesus as God and the Son of God when he approached him for baptism. Out of the Twelve Apostles, only Peter had the courage and strength to say that Christ is God and the Son of God. What happened to others when Jesus often identified himself as a friend of the prostitute and the tax collectors, the son of the carpenter, and his mother Mary?

Our mothers often identify themselves as our friend and our sister rather than our mother, why? They often lower themselves to be our level as a friend or sister to easily communicate with us. Because of that, sometimes we forget or neglect to see them as our mothers. The Lord Jesus Christ comes down to us as one of us to be able to communicate with us, but we ignore and reject him as God since we are so familiar with him. Not only Thomas, but Philip as well missed seeing Jesus as God and the Son of God that he asked him, as reported in today’s Gospel, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” To that, Jesus responds, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” Just as Philip could not see God the Father in Jesus Christ, have we ever had a problem recognizing God the Father in Jesus Christ especially when Jesus identified himself as a servant, a son of Mary, a defender for the widows and children, a protector of the prostitutes and the sinners, and a friend of the tax collector? In other words, parents, have you ever seen your children as your children to love them and help them when they just happened to follow bad friends, to fall out of school, get involved in drugs and alcohol, commit adultery before marriage, and many other negative acts and behaviors?

Jesus showed us the way, the truth, and the life of God the Father by identifying himself as a friend of prostitutes and sinners, have you, our mothers, identified yourself as friends to your children to walk with them and to be the way, the truth and the life for them to follow? Giving is better than receiving, have you, mothers, given time and paid more attention to the needs of your children? To our children, Jesus Christ, the Son of God and God himself, was abandoned by God the Father, but he was still obedient to God the Father even to the point of death and death on the cross, how have you, children, responded to your parents’ teaching and obey them when God purposely placed them in our life? Perhaps, in our loneliness stressful because of the school load, have we remembered to talk to our parents, explain to them how we feel? In our changing moods and influenced by friends and society, have we come to talk to our parents and seek their wisdom and guidance? Have you ever asked yourself why there are Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, but not Children’s Day? Some suggestion for Children’s Day is a day that revives, celebrates, and commits to our children and their future. Does it sound like parents’ commitments to their children? Mother’s Day and Father’s Day exist to honor our parents for their responsibilities and commitments to bringing us into existence, to take care of us when we are young, and to continue supporting us in any way they can in growing up.

Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life to God the Father, have you, children, ever looked up to your parents as the way, the truth, and the life to your success in life, both in our spiritual life and our material life? We might not be able to see Jesus Christ as the way, the truth, and the life of God the Father because he is too far from us, but have you, children, had difficulty listening, talking, and obeying your parents when they are right next to you? Parents, we might not be able to see ourselves as the way, the truth, and the life for our children when we are busy working to make a living for our family, have you taken this opportunity of the pandemic of coronavirus to spend more time with your children to eat with them, to play with them, to study with them, and to pray with them before meals and bed time? Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life for his followers, do you, parents, want your children become your followers? If yes, how would you become the way, the truth and the life for them to follow? The decision is yours.