Daily Reflection – May 13, 2017

Saturday 13 May 2017

First Reading: Acts 13:44-52
Responsorial Psalm:
All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.
Psalm 98:1, 2-3AB, 3CD-4
Gospel Reading: John 14:7-14

Today’s Note: Saturday of the Fourth Week of Easter

Gospel Reading:

Jesus said to his disciples:
“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 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.
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:

Show us the Father, and that will be enough for us. (John 14:8)

No matter who you are or where you come from, one thing is true about you: you long to see and know your heavenly Father. It’s a deep craving—so deep, in fact, that some of us don’t even know it’s there. But that’s how God has made us: with a built-in desire for him, so that we would feel moved to try to find him.

For many people, though, God seems too otherworldly to get to know. His throne is in heaven, and we live on earth. His thoughts are so high, and ours seem so earthbound. We perceive clues about him through scientific discoveries or through the beauty of art, but these are just observations—not a relationship. Can we really know him who stretched out the universe?

The answer is yes. We can, and we already do know him because we know Jesus. As we proclaim every Sunday at Mass, Jesus is “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God” (Nicene Creed).

The disciples didn’t know that yet. That’s why Philip asked Jesus to show them the Father. Maybe they thought Jesus would give them some new insight or, even better, a brief glimpse of his glory. They didn’t realize that the Father was already revealing himself through Jesus. How happy they must have been when they finally understood that God had been with them all the time through his Son!

We do know the Father, because we know Jesus. And as it is with anyone else, we can grow to know him deeper still. This doesn’t mean that we always have to discover something brand-new about our Father—although that could happen. He has a way of challenging our assumptions about things. Usually it means that he shows us something we already know about him—like how much he loves us or how glorious he is—but he lets us experience it in a deeper way.

Isn’t it amazing? No matter how close to God we grow over the years, there’s always more to learn. There’s always more to experience.

May the prayer of Philip echo in our own hearts.

“Lord Jesus, show me the Father in a deeper way.”