We often hear people speak about having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ — or we might say an intimate relationship with Him. And that is certainly true and necessary. But the spiritual life does not end there. There is something even deeper to which Our Lord desires to lead us.

Our Lord tells us:

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (Jn 14:6)

Jesus does not merely invite us to know Him alone. He came to lead us to the Father. Each of the three Divine Persons of the Blessed Trinity desires communion with us. Jesus is the way — but the destination is the Father. We cannot come to know the Father apart from Christ, and the more deeply we know the Son, the more He reveals the Father to us.

In today’s Gospel, Our Lord repeatedly tells us to ask things of the Father. The Father is our provider. The Father loves us. The Father desires to hear from His children.

When the Apostles asked Our Lord how to pray, He began with the words:

“Our Father…”

And Our Lord also says:

“I do not say to you that I shall ask the Father for you…” (Jn 16:26)

In other words, we ourselves are invited to approach the Father with confidence and trust.

But how does one come to know the Father?

We must begin with Jesus.

We must develop a deep and intimate union with Him. We spend time with Him in prayer. We speak with Him throughout the day. We bring Him into every aspect of our lives. Christ cannot remain merely a part of Sunday morning. He must become part of our entire life.

And through this intimacy with Our Lord, we begin to fall in love with the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity — Jesus Christ.

Once we come to know the Son, He introduces us to the Father.

Our Lord says:

“Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father.” (Jn 14:9)

And again:

“I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.” (Jn 14:10)

There is one God in three Divine Persons. The Son reveals the Father to us. And so we must ask, seek, and persevere in prayer. In His own time, God will reveal the Father to us in a deeper and more intimate way.

But it all begins with coming to know the Son.

If we truly build our relationship with Our Lord and sincerely seek the Father, then in His time He will draw us more deeply into the mystery of His divine life. This is the path walked by the saints and mystics of the Church.

Through the Son we come to the Father, and the Father and the Son draw us into communion with the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Holy Ghost. This is the mystical cycle of divine love: through Christ to the Father, and from the Father and the Son, the outpouring of the Holy Ghost into the soul.