Homily
for the Feast of
Sts.
Philip & James
May
3, 2022
John
14: 6-14
Christian
Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, New Rochelle
“Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14: 9).
Jesus’ words to Philip echo a verse from the prolog to John’s Gospel: “No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him” (1:18).
The purpose of Jesus’ whole life, and his public ministry in
particular, was to reveal the Father and to do the works of the Father
(14:10). Jesus reveals divine truth, the
truth that the Father loves humanity and desires to give us the fullness of
life: “I came so that they might have
life and have it more abundantly” (10:10), or in some translations, “have it to
the full.” He reveals that he is the way
to eternal life, to the place for us with him at the Father’s side (1:18), reveals
it thru his preaching and what John calls “signs” thruout his Gospel—signs of
God’s love, signs of God’s active care for us, signs of God’s presence among
us. The greatest sign is that Christ has
been raised from the dead, and thru his resurrection we “are being saved” (1
Cor 15:2). “To those who accepted him he
gave the power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name”
(John 1:12).
To bring this faith to humanity, Jesus sent out Philip,
James, and the other apostles and called Paul, too, to be witnesses to his
resurrection. He continues to call new
apostles in every age, that we too may “share in the Passion and Resurrection”
of God’s only-begotten Son (Collect).
Philip asked Jesus to show them the Father. We have the privilege of showing people
Jesus, and when they see him, they see also his Father. “Believe because of the works” (14:11)—may
people believe that they’ve met Jesus because they’ve met us, heard our words,
seen our works. And having met him, may
they find in him the way to eternal life.
Photo: St. Philip on the altar of the crypt church, National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington.
No comments:
Post a Comment