Saturday of the Fourth Week of Easter
Today’s Reflection
Gospel: Jn 14: 7-14
May 6, 2023 | Saturday
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. Indeed, anything you ask, calling upon my name, I will do it.
Today’s Reflection:
In today’s Gospel, Jesus is telling His disciples that if they know Him, they also know His Father. Jesus then tells them that when they see Him, they also see His Father. Philip then speaks up and asks Jesus to “show” them His Father for them to believe in what Jesus was saying. Jesus was deeply disappointed by Philip’s lack of trust, which led Him to sharply reprimand Philip by asking, “you have been with me for a very long time, yet you do not believe what I say?” Jesus must have been deeply disappointed in Philip in his need for proof despite being with Him for a long time. What a disappointment this must have been for Jesus. After all their time together, did Philip and the other disciples still not understand who he was? What would it take to for them to believe and understand?
This leads us to reflect on this question: How often do we ask Jesus for proof? At times, we also want Jesus to send us a sign that clearly, He is with us. May we learn to trust that Jesus will gift us with all we need. Jesus is present with us every moment of every day, always strengthening and gracing us! /Vulnerasti, 2023
