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| STS PHILIP AND JAMES THE LESS. Image from reflectionsonthesacredliturgy.blogspot.com via google.com |
"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."
- John 14:10
It's the Friday of the Fifth Week of Easter! The readings for today is supposed to be the Gospel of Holy Friendship, John 15: 12-17. However, since the Feast of Sts Philip and James the Less, two of the Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, we take the reading proper to this Feast, John 14: 6-14. We have a reflection on John 14:6 and 14:14 in two earlier entries which you could review.
The passage we are going to reflect upon today was part of the Lord's answer to Philip who asked Him to show them the Father.
Jesus told Philip and the others that it is the Father who is doing His work through Him. Does this mean that the Lord Jesus then is merely a passive instrument of the Father? No. Rather, He is an active implementor of the Father's will and works. It is the Father who wills, the Son fulfills. For the Son will never do anything against the Father's will [see Luke 22:42] for it is for the very purpose of doing the Father's will that the Son came into the world [see John 3:16].
Do we not demand the same request in many ways and formulation of words? We - and many others - also ask it in different manners but maybe one of the demands addressed to the Church which may somehow exactly fit the same request asked by Philip is this,
Yes. Even when we do not say a word, many times we demand that the Church should show us the Lord Jesus Christ to make sure that it is really Him who wants the Church to fight for life, family and marriage; speak against abortion, contraception, euthanasia, homosexuality and same sex marriage; or make a stand about other issues and concerns which others believe lie within the sphere of secular society and which the Church doesn't have anything to do with especially in view of the so-called separation of Church and State.
As we have mentioned in an earlier entry, this kind of questions are convenient excuses not to believe in the Church. For we know that we cannot force the Lord Jesus Christ to show Himself as He is. Challenging the Lord to show himself is like testing God. We must remember that it is a grave sin to test the Lord [see Deuteronomy 6:16; Matthew 4:7; Luke 4:12]!
But the reply to such a demand is very clear. As the Lord replied to Philip that the they no longer look for the Father for He is in the Lord Jesus Christ, we can also say that those who wants to see the Lord doesn't have to look far. For the Lord Jesus Christ is present on this earth through His Church: for the Church is His Body [see 1 Corinthians 12: 12-31] and He promised to abide by the Church until the end of time [see Matthew 28:20] and the Church continues to do His work until He comes again in glory. Therefore when the Church declares a teaching which may not be exactly found in any passage of the Bible, it is still the Lord Jesus Christ who speaks. For one can hardly find, for example, any passage about stem cell research in the Bible and yet the principles against such research can be implied or deduced through related passages of the Bible. For it would be tantamount to making the Holy Spirit incapable if we won't believe that the Church has the authority to teach even though the Lord himself said that the Holy Spirit will lead her to all the truth and remind her of all that He has taught [see John 14:26].
The Lord Jesus Christ did not speak on His own. The Church also doesn't speak on her own. The Church speaks in behalf of the Lord and the Lord speaks in behalf of the Father.
If you still doubt, ask the Holy Spirit's enlightenment for the Lord promised Him as the one who will lead us to all the truth.
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