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Arch Bishop Micheal Ralph Vendegna S.O.S.M.A.

Gospel/Homily

  • Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Easter

     

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    Gospel text (Jn 12,44-50): Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me believes not only in me but also in the one who sent me, and whoever sees me sees the one who sent me. I came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness. And if anyone hears my words and does not observe them, I do not condemn him, for I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world. Whoever rejects me and does not accept my words has something to judge him: the word that I spoke, it will condemn him on the last day, because I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. So what I say, I say as the Father told me.”

    «Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me»

    Fr. Julio César RAMOS González SDB (Mendoza, Argentina)

    Today, Jesus cries out; He cries out just as someone who is saying words everybody should clearly listen to. His clamor synthesizes his saving mission, as He has come «to save the world» (Jn 12:47), but not on his own but in the name of «the Father who sent me and has instructed me in what to say and how to speak» (Jn 12:49).

    It is not yet a month ago when we were celebrating the Paschal Triduum: how much present was the Father in the final hour, the hour of the Cross! As His Holiness John Paul II has written, «Jesus, overwhelmed by his foreknowledge of the trial waiting for him, alone before God, invokes him with his usual and tender expression of trust: ‘Abbá, Father’». The next hours clearly show the intimate dialogue of the Son with the Father: «Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing» (Lk 23:34); «Father, into your hands I commend my spirit» (Lk 23:46).

    The importance of this work by the Father and his Messenger, well deserves the personal response of he who is listening. This response is to believe, that is, a profession of faith (cf. Jn 12:44); faith that gives us the light —by the same Jesus— so that we shall not remain in darkness. But, he who rejects all these gifts and manifestations, and does not listen to those words «already has a judge: the very Word I have spoken» (Jn 12:48).

    Therefore, to accept Jesus is to believe in, see and listen to the Father, not to be in darkness, to obey the command of eternal life. We certainly deserve Saint John of the Cross' rebuke: «[The Father] with this Word said everything in one go (...). Consequently, if you would like to ask God now, or should you pretend some kind of vision or revelation, it would not only be a piece of nonsense, but an offence for God, for not looking up only at Christ without asking for any other thing or novelty».

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