Gospel: John 14, 1 – 12
Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. Where I am going you know the way.” Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, 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.”
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As I read the Gospel passage given to us this weekend for our meditation, I could not help but remember the little blue catechism which we all had to learn by rote as children and the questions and answers which it contained. I remembered the question; Who made you? And the answer; God made me and then came the second question; Why did God make you? And then the answer: God made me to know him to love him and to serve him in this world and to be happy with him forever in the next.
I suppose the question then as now remains the same. How do we know God? In the Gospel passage given to us by the church this weekend we find the answer. Phillip says to Jesus; “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.” To know Jesus is to know the Father! We who believe the story of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus know the Father. We know that the Father is a God who does not remain aloof from humanity and humanity’s struggles but descends into our midst to become one with us. This, God continues to do in the Eucharist. God is a God who does not hide us from adversity but rather a God who enters into our adversity with us and supports and sustains us. We know that God is a God who stands with those who suffer, victims of injustice of every kind, and saves; we know that God is a God who because God is Spirit and invisible to mortal eyes trusted Jesus to make God known to human eyes. Jesus tells Phillip; “If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” This God trusts those whom God calls, the disciples of Jesus down through the ages, not to abandon the process begun by Jesus, but to continue to make God visible, however imperfectly, to human eyes.
The responsibility to make God known was understood and lived by all the saints, canonized and not canonized. How did they do it? They did it by doing just what Jesus did while he was here on earth. They loved in the concrete situations which they encountered. St. Francis jumped off his horse and embraced the leper. (Lepers as you know are shunned by society). St Damian of Molokai opted to live his life among lepers, dying like one of them. Mother Teresa accompanied the dying, helping them to die unafraid and with dignity. The sisters of the religious congregation she founded continue to do the same. St Maximilian Kolbe took the place of a condemned man in the concentration camp. Our own dearly beloved Archbishop Pantin loved all who came to his door poor and rich alike. Today there continue to be persons who make the invisible God visible and the love of the invisible God palpable in a world which needs this witness.
Today let us thank God for those whose lives have made the invisible God visible and the love of God palpable to us. But as we do this let us remember that it is our obligation today to make God and God’s love visible and palpable to the vagrant at the street corner, the beggar who comes to our door, the person with whom we may not be on good terms.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God, through your son Jesus, You made yourself known to a waiting world. You showed yourself to be a God of love, a God who does not sit on the fence but a God who stands alongside those who suffer. Father you call us, the disciples of Jesus, to continue the work of making YOU known. Give us the strength of character needed so that we will be able to love as Jesus did in all the difficult moments of life, so that we be able to stand for justice and mercy and for LIFE. We ask this through the intercession of Mary, our mother and your Son, Jesus. Amen
