Liturgical day: Saturday 4th of Easter
Gospel text (Jn 14,7-14): Jesus said to his disciples: «If you know me, you will know the Father also; indeed you know him and you have seen him». Philip asked him, «Lord, show us the Father and that is enough». Jesus said to him, «What! I have been with you so long and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever sees me sees 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? All that I say to you, I do not say of myself. The Father who dwells in me is doing his own work.
»Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; at least believe it on the evidence of these works that I do. Truly, I say to you, the one who believes in me will do the same works that I do; and he will even do greater than these, for I am going to the Father. Everything you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. And everything you ask in calling upon my Name, I will do».
«I am in the Father and the Father is in me»
Fr. Jacques PHILIPPE
(Cordes sur Ciel, France)
Today, we are invited to recognize the Father who reveals himself in Jesus Christ. Philip articulates a very fair intuition: «Lord, show us the Father and it is enough for us» (Jn 14:8). To see the Father is to discover God as the origin, as the life that flows, as generosity, as a gift that constantly renews everything. What else do we need? We are coming from God, and each man, even if unconsciously, carries the profound desire of going back to God, of recuperating the fatherly home and remain there forever. There we can find all the possessions we may strive for: life, light, love, peace… St. Ignatius of Antioch, a martyr at the beginning of the second century, expressed it eloquently: «There is in me living water that murmurs within me: 'Come to the Father'!».
Jesus makes us glimpse the existing deep reciprocal intimacy between Him and the Father. «I am in the Father and the Father is in me» (Jn 14:11). What Jesus says and does emanates from the Father, and the Father fully expresses Himself in Jesus. Whatever the Father wants to tell us is to be found in the Son's words and deeds. All He wants to fulfill for us He fulfills through His Son. To believe in the Son allows us to have «access to the Father» (Eph 2:18).
—The humble and faithful faith in Jesus, our choice to follow and obey Him, day after day, connects us mysteriously but truly with the very mystery of God, while making us recipients of all the riches of His kindness and mercy. This faith lets the Father execute, through us, the work of grace He began in His Son: «Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do» (Jn 14:12).
«Everything you ask in calling upon my Name, I will do»
Fr. Iñaki BALLBÉ i Turu
(Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain)
Today, 4th Saturday of Easter, the Church invites us to consider how important it is for all Christians to be aware that they need to know Christ more and more. Which tools can we rely upon for this? Several, and all of them fundamental: well pondered and attentive reading of the Gospel; our personal involvement when praying, by trying hard to make our prayers become a true dialogue of love, not a mere introspective monologue, and the daily renewed effort to discover Christ in our fellow men: our relatives, our friends, a neighbor perhaps in need of our attention and help, of our advice, of our friendship.
«Lord, show us the Father», asks Philip (Jn 14:8). A good request for us to keep on repeating all this Saturday. —Lord, show me your face. And we may wonder: how is our behavior? Can others see Christ's reflection in me? What little thing could I fight for today? We Christians must find that divine something in our daily chores; God's footprint in all that surrounds us. In our job, in our social life amongst others, everywhere! Or, when we are sick, too: when we are ill it is a good time for us to identify ourselves with a suffering Christ. As St. Therese of the Child Jesus said, «if we do not decide ourselves to swallow once and for all our death and our lack of health, we shall never do anything».
The Lord of the Gospel assures us: «Everything you ask in my name, I will do» (Jn 14:13). —God is my Father and, as a loving Father, He looks after me: He does not want anything to hurt me. Everything that happens —everything that happens to me— is meant for my sanctification. Even though, with our own human eyes we might not understand it. Even though if we can never understand it. That thing —whatever it is— happens because God allows it to happen. Let us trust him just as the Virgin Mary trusted him too.