A reading form the holy Gospel according to John 14: 6-14
Jesus said to Thomas, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him." Philip said to him, "Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works.
Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it."
REFLECTION: Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip?"
Have you ever wanted to know someone better? Have you ever regretted not ever knowing that person? For me it usually is when I am at someone's funeral and I hear all the beautiful stories and I wish I had had the opportunity to have known that person.
Philip has been with Jesus for three years and still has not comprehended that Jesus is God and therefore he (Philip) has been with the Father all along all these years. I was told once that I could not be a friend to someone until I was with them and knew them for at least four years. How can one get to know anyone? Are we closer and more familiar with our spouses having lived with them so many years?
Yes, we know Jesus as the Son of God, our Redeemer and the one who gave us the Holy Spirit. He has asked us to be His friend. Yet, on the other hand do we really know Him? We only have a glimpse of His love and we can get to know Jesus more deeply through spending more time with Him in prayer, each time we go to confession and receive His forgiveness, each time we receive His Body and Blood in Communion, each time we sit with Him in the tabernacle, each time we stop to love someone else and each time we do His will and allow the Holy Spirit to work through us.
As we age, we realize that we have wasted all these years, pursuing earth's life and not growing in our friendship with Jesus. But let us not forget--our Lord is never the jilted lover. He is always waiting for us to draw close to Him and He will draw closer to us.
May our priests grow in their love for Jesus and may they truly believe that Jesus is present in the host. May we pray that all the people that God has allowed us to be part of their lives, may also seek to know God more and more each day.
God Bless.
