Know God

Today’s Gospel Text:  Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me. 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also; henceforth you know him and have seen him." 8 Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied." 9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me; or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves. 12 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son; 14 if you ask anything in my name, I will do it. John 14:6-14

  

Reflection: Man’s search for God can throw up volumes of researched materials and that's what religion is all about. 

What is it that makes us search for the divinity or even the the divine presence in creation? Is it the human insecurities or is it because there is a divine spark in all of us that prompts us to seek him.

Or could it be the human reason which refuses to believe the big-bang on account of its inherent flaws or could be reason seeing cause for the great movements in creation, the natural and moral laws that govern creation and the occasional spurt by way of calamities.

For some the divine could be a charm for material gain, which ultimately is of far more importance to supply their many wants for fragile happiness and or for self-gratification.

Or could it be the desire to live for all eternity the reason for seeking the divine and yet the Scripture reminds us of the contradictory pulls in the heart of man:

    

“He has made everything beautiful in its time; also he has put eternity into man's mind, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”  Eccl 3:11

Whatever be the reason, the gospel text teaches us that, in Christ Jesus is the beginning and end of all searches for the divine:  “If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.” (vs. 7)

Thus we can also conclude: God fully reveals himself in Christ Jesus and we apart from Jesus, our search for God can only lead us round in circles.

It is Jesus who makes it clear to us that we are under the cloud of deception and that apart from him we can do nothing. It is he who came to destroy the work of the evil one so that we could be under the righteous reign of the God who saves.

Prayer:  "Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied." (vs. 8)

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

Teach Me Too

Today’s Gospel Text:  As he entered Caper'na-um, a centurion came forward to him, beseeching him 6 and saying, "Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, in terrible distress." 7 And he said to him, "I will come and heal him." 8 But the centurion answered him, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it." 10 When Jesus heard him, he marveled, and said to those who followed him, "Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith. 11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. Matt 8:5-11

Reflection: A school is a great place to be, a great invention of man. Parents admit their children to school in the hope of building their future on a solid foundation.

In school these children could learn either the good things of life or bad.  But it is always a joy for the parents to hear their children or see them having learnt the good values of life and doing well.

It is as if these things which they learn become a pleasing offering to the parents in return for their investment on their children.

Similarly God has sent us to earth for a purpose and in this body, a perfect creation of God, to learn of the good things of life.

The human body is like the school and the various stimuli of life are the many things one learn's in school.  

In the story of the centurion we have one such example of right learning and offering in the school of life:

He has learnt that authority has a special power to delegate things and to make things work and as he adds this to his faith in Jesus, it produces a wonderful miracle with eternal ramifications.

The servant of the centurion is not only healed but he becomes an example of how we can carry our daily interactions of life to God in prayer and ultimately leave it to God to work a wonderful miracle in our lives and those of the others too; for the centurions testimony of faith has become an example for all ages.

We need to ask ourselves; how have we learnt about the marvels of God either through our education or work situation or as parents or friends or brothers and sisters to one another?

Do we, each day, make our experiences an opportunity to know more about God and then in and through them offer them to God? 

Prayer:  Teach me thy way, O Lord, that I may walk in thy truth; unite my heart to fear thy name.  I give thanks to thee, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify thy name for ever. Ps 86:11-12

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

Blameless Heart

Today’s Gospel Text: Philip found Nathan'a-el, and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." 46 Nathan'a-el said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." 47 Jesus saw Nathan'a-el coming to him, and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!" 48 Nathan'a-el said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." 49 Nathan'a-el answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" 50 Jesus answered him, "Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You shall see greater things than these." 51 And he said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." John 1:45-51

Reflection: It’s good to ask questions and enquire about a problem before arriving at decisions.

So often in life people arrive at decision making without asking relevant questions or they may ask the wrong kind of questions in order to arrive at wrong kind of knowledge.

But the one thing to be always kept in mind is the human limitations of arriving at the right answers always, especially when it comes to the truth of God.

In the Gospel we have Philip approaching Nathanael with a proposition:"We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." (vs. 45)

Philip had done his homework well, he knew the scriptures and knew the background of Jesus of Nazareth, as the son of Joseph. Perhaps he knew a little more than what he was revealing to Nathanael!

Nathanael had an equally relevant question to ask Philip, it was in every way a scriptural question, which may have flummoxed many an experts in Israel. 

The only difference may have been is this; that Nathanael may have asked this question in all sincerity without any guile: "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" (vs. 46)

It now seems clear that these were honest seekers, sincere in their approach. God never disappoints a sincere seeker, who is really interested in knowing the truth and following it.

According to the John’s Gospel, Nathanael seems to be the first to recognize Jesus as the ‘Son of God’ 

We too need to ask God for the same disposition of heart as Nathanael, whose feast we celebrate today.

Prayer: May my heart be blameless in thy statutes, that I may not be put to shame! Ps 119:80

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

Know God

Today’s Gospel Text:  Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe." 26 Eight days later, his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. The doors were shut, but Jesus came and stood among them, and said, "Peace be with you." 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing." 28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe." John 20:24-29

Reflection: It’s a normal human psyche either to believe blindly, or to discerningly doubt or never to believe. 

You tell people that you have seen a tiger and some may actually believe you even if you have not seen one.  Make up a few interesting stories and they will have no doubts that you indeed are one of those brave one’s. 

For a few, there could be reasons to be skeptical about it and may pooh-pooh the whole story as something that is made up.

What if the narrator is really telling the truth and has had an encounter with a tiger? Then what? Unless he has some concrete evidences to prove his point, the listener could forfeit the benefit of learning from a beautiful incident, from a firsthand narrator.  Thanks to our limitations, wherein we cannot be present at the scene of the incident in retrospect nor easily comprehend or easily verify the truth of the incident.

Anyway, knowing about the tiger, or seeing a film personality or the president or prince are not important elements of life.  They will not affect our life.  Someone else’s encounter with these personalities and they benefitting from it may make an interesting story which could lead us into a dream world. Some could then be waiting for their prince charming!

But there is an encounter which can be a reality and which is necessary for us and for the world to believe and that encounter is that of the apostles and specifically that of Thomas the apostle.  It is an encounter that can really transform our whole life unto eternity.

It is an encounter which anyone can have and all can benefit from it.  This encounter may not be of the same kind as that of Thomas but it could vary from people to people.

In this encounter, you have to give up on your reasoning’s or rather, more appropriately, acknowledge the limitations of your reasoning’s  and give God a chance, that one chance to prove himself to you. He will do it, because Jesus is God with us.

Prayer:  Lord, help me know the limitations of my mortal mind and seek you and your wisdom in all things.  Speak to my heart and reveal to me my limitations, that I may know for sure that you exist and reign over all the earth.   St. Thomas, Apostle; Pray for us.

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us