Jesus said to Thomas, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said to him, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen 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? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.” (John 14:6-14, NABRE)
In today’s Gospel, we see the Apostles, despite having walked with the Lord and having seen His works, asking to see the Father. How often do we run across this struggle in our own lives? Do you walk through your daily life feeling the absence of God as it seems that He cannot be seen anywhere? Is He really absent, or are you blind to His works? If we believe that Jesus is Lord and that God resides in each human person, then we should know that He is visible everywhere, if only we make the effort to see. This is evident more so in those who believe in Christ.
As Jesus tells Philip, ‘whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these.’ Believers in Christ do God’s work, even in the smallest of ways. God is evident in kindness, love, and charity. We need only to witness the good works of our fellow man in order to witness God Himself. Often, we look for miracles and wonders as great and irrefutable signs of God’s works. While these can offer undeniable proof of God’s Hand in man’s affairs, they do not make up the bulk of the work that God does in the world. God works through man, through His disciples, and the largest sum of proof of His existence is in the work of human hands. If there is a great task to be accomplished, we need only to ask His assistance, and it will be given. It will not usually be given in ways that are very overt, such as in the miracles at Fatima or Lourdes, but instead given in ways that involve the actions of man. We often overlook the daily miracles of life-saving surgery, access to plentiful food, working sewage systems, access to fresh water, safe communities, etc. These are the works of God through His disciples. These are everyday miracles.
God is inside of us, showing us His works by using our hands. We do not need to see God as He appears in heaven, but instead we need to learn to see God as He appears on earth in our everyday lives. The Father is here, but do you see Him?
Copyright 2022 Jessica Tucker