FAUSTI - Philip, called directly by Jesus to follow Him ( 1,43-6) and consulted by Him on the bread ( 6,5), is the one who accepted and expressed the desire of the Greeks who want to see the Lord ( 12,21). Now he ardently asks for seeing the Father. His desire corresponds to that of Moses: " Please show me your Glory!" (Ex 33,18). It is the deep yearning of every man: "My heart said of You, "Seek His Face". Your Face, Lord, I seek! (Ps 27:8), because "just as the deer yearns for streams of water, so my soul yearns for You, O God! When will I come and see the Face of God? He, the salvation of my face and my God!" (Ps 42). His Face is our reality, because we are His image and likeness: to see Him is to become oneself. From this comes the natural desire to see God. It is that openness to the infinite that makes man go beyond himself: he is a desiring animal "too big to be enough for himself "B. Pascal Every man desires to know the Father. In Him he finds that otherness of love that makes Him be what He is. The time that Jesus has spent with us is that in which, whoever knows Him as a Son, sees the Father. His entire earthly existence is nothing more than revelation of the Father in His Love of Son for His brothers and sisters. His flesh is the very Word of God addressed to man to recreate him in His image. The creation of man, in fact, is always open: is the constant work of the Word, in synergy with our listening. "Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father". These words are the compendium of Christian revelation: the Face of the man Jesus, our brother is "The Face". He is the Only Begotten, always towards the bosom of the Father, Who has turned to us to show us Him. "It is not that anyone has seen the Father, except the one who is from God's side: He has seen the Father (1,18- 6,46). The Face of the Son, unconditional love for His brothers and sisters, is the same as that of the Father: He does what He sees to be done by Him (5:19). What the Gospel has told us so far about Jesus has shown us His Face and that of the Father. That is why "he who sees me, sees the One who sent me" (12:45). To know and see the Father is to believe that Jesus is in the Father. There is talk of mutual immanence between Father and Son. In fact, the beloved dwells in those who love Him. Their mutual love makes them one another's dwelling place. Every Word of the Son is from the Father: He himself is the Word that the Father addresses to us in order to enter into communion with us and give Himself to us. His Word gives what it says because it is what it says. The Father's own work is to love and to give life. Every action of the Son is the same as that of the Father: It communicates to us their mutual Love, Life of both. Jesus tells us to believe not only "in" Him, but also "to" Him, while He says these words, in which He reveals that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him. If we adhere to Him, we too are in the Father and the Father in us: God is the place where we are at home, children in the Son.
--- Faith in Jesus, reliable for His works and His words, is an antidote to the upheaval and consequent bewilderment. Believing in Him unlocks our fears and frees our reality as children and brothers. Jesus asks us to trust Him while He is accomplishing and explaining the thing that most disturbs us: His leaving. The proof that His Words are true will be the works that we will accomplish when He returns to the Father. Certainly we will not do works greater than He who fed the crowds and brought out a dead man from the tomb. But just as the meaning is greater than the sign, so loving as He loved us is greater than feeding alive or raising dead: it is passing from a life for death to the very life of God. Nothing we do is really great. Only love is greater than everything, because without it everything is nothing. These greatest works are the "much fruit" that the branches will bear while remaining united to the vine. The only reasonable explanation for love is love itself. Only love is credible, worthy of trust, because it is visible in practice. To believe in concrete is to ask. Faith has the breath of prayer. It gives voice to the fundamental desire of man, the need of the other for himself. Jesus guarantees that He will do what we ask Him in His Name: united with Him, the Son, we ask and obtain what we need to live as brothers. The certainty of fulfillment gives us the confidence necessary for the request to be effective. In fact, we must ask "with faith, without hesitation, because whoever hesitates resembles the wave of the sea, moved and agitated by the wind, and does not think to receive something from the Lord a man who has an oscillating and unstable soul in all his actions". (Gc1,6-8). If we ask with confidence and we do not obtain, it is because we ask badly, to satisfy our selfishness (Jas 4:3). The trust of a filial heart, which asks according to the Father's wishes, truly obtains everything. It even obtains the Holy Spirit, the gift of God's life (Lk 11:13) visible from its fruit of love, joy and peace.
FAUSTI - Philip, called directly by Jesus to follow Him ( 1,43-6) and consulted by Him on the bread ( 6,5), is the one who accepted and expressed the desire of the Greeks who want to see the Lord ( 12,21).
RispondiEliminaNow he ardently asks for seeing the Father.
His desire corresponds to that of Moses: " Please show me your Glory!" (Ex 33,18).
It is the deep yearning of every man: "My heart said of You, "Seek His Face". Your Face, Lord, I seek! (Ps 27:8), because "just as the deer yearns for streams of water, so my soul yearns for You, O God! When will I come and see the Face of God? He, the salvation of my face and my God!" (Ps 42).
His Face is our reality, because we are His image and likeness: to see Him is to become oneself. From this comes the natural desire to see God.
It is that openness to the infinite that makes man go beyond himself: he is a desiring animal "too big to be enough for himself "B. Pascal
Every man desires to know the Father.
In Him he finds that otherness of love that makes Him be what He is.
The time that Jesus has spent with us is that in which, whoever knows Him as a Son, sees the Father.
His entire earthly existence is nothing more than revelation of the Father in His Love of Son for His brothers and sisters.
His flesh is the very Word of God addressed to man to recreate him in His image.
The creation of man, in fact, is always open:
is the constant work of the Word, in synergy with our listening.
"Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father".
These words are the compendium of Christian revelation: the Face of the man Jesus, our brother is "The Face".
He is the Only Begotten, always towards the bosom of the Father, Who has turned to us to show us Him.
"It is not that anyone has seen the Father, except the one who is from God's side: He has seen the Father (1,18- 6,46).
The Face of the Son, unconditional love for His brothers and sisters, is the same as that of the Father: He does what He sees to be done by Him (5:19).
What the Gospel has told us so far about Jesus has shown us His Face and that of the Father. That is why "he who sees me, sees the One who sent me" (12:45). To know and see the Father is to believe that Jesus is in the Father.
There is talk of mutual immanence between Father and Son. In fact, the beloved dwells in those who love Him.
Their mutual love makes them one another's dwelling place. Every Word of the Son is from the Father: He himself is the Word that the Father addresses to us in order to enter into communion with us and give Himself to us.
His Word gives what it says because it is what it says.
The Father's own work is to love and to give life. Every action of the Son is the same as that of the Father: It communicates to us their mutual Love, Life of both.
Jesus tells us to believe not only "in" Him, but also "to" Him, while He says these words,
in which He reveals that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him.
If we adhere to Him, we too are in the Father and the Father in us: God is the place where we are at home,
children in the Son.
--- Faith in Jesus, reliable for His works and His words, is an antidote to the upheaval and consequent bewilderment. Believing in Him unlocks our fears and frees our reality as children and brothers.
RispondiEliminaJesus asks us to trust Him while He is accomplishing and explaining the thing that most disturbs us: His leaving. The proof that His Words are true will be the works that we will accomplish when He returns to the Father.
Certainly we will not do works greater than He who fed the crowds and brought out a dead man from the tomb. But just as the meaning is greater than the sign, so loving as He loved us is greater than feeding alive or raising dead: it is passing from a life for death to the very life of God. Nothing we do is really great.
Only love is greater than everything, because without it everything is nothing.
These greatest works are the "much fruit" that the branches will bear while remaining united to the vine.
The only reasonable explanation for love is love itself. Only love is credible, worthy of trust, because it is visible in practice.
To believe in concrete is to ask. Faith has the breath of prayer.
It gives voice to the fundamental desire of man, the need of the other for himself.
Jesus guarantees that He will do what we ask Him in His Name: united with Him, the Son, we ask and obtain what we need to live as brothers. The certainty of fulfillment gives us the confidence necessary for the request to be effective. In fact, we must ask "with faith, without hesitation, because whoever hesitates resembles the wave of the sea, moved and agitated by the wind, and does not think to receive something from the Lord a man who has an oscillating and unstable soul in all his actions".
(Gc1,6-8). If we ask with confidence and we do not obtain, it is because we ask badly, to satisfy our selfishness (Jas 4:3).
The trust of a filial heart, which asks according to the Father's wishes, truly obtains everything.
It even obtains the Holy Spirit,
the gift of God's life (Lk 11:13) visible from its fruit of love, joy and peace.