Reading and meditation on the Word of God on Saturday of the fourth week of Easter, May 17, 2025

Delivered by Venessa from the Church of Saint Ignatius in the Archdiocese of Singapore. Acts of the Apostles 13: 44-52; Rs psalm 98: 1.2.3ab.3cd-4; John 14: 7-14.GOOD SHEPHERD PRESENTS THE FATHER TOUS The title for our meditation today is:The Good Shepherd Presents the Father to Us. Yesterday in the Gospel reading, inanswering the apostle Tomas' lack of understanding, Jesus answered by claimingHimself as our way to reach the Father. Today, the apostle Philip, whorepresents many of us, shows a lack of understanding and search to know whoreally the Father is. Jesus' answer is the most obvious and it’strully the key answer, because it shows the purpose of all our searches andwalks in this world. Jesus answered him by presenting the heavenly Father, soHe says: seeing Me, means seeing the Father, hearing Me, means hearing theFather, living with Me means living with the Father. The point is that theFather is in Me and I am in the Father. Father and I are one. The unity of the Father and the Sontakes place in a relationship of love, with communication between them, andthis relationship occurs in the Holy Spirit. Indeed, the answer given to Philipand all those who search the ultimate goal of life is the Trinity of God. Thereis no other answer more significant than this one. Meeting the Father in Jesusand in the untiy with the Holy Spirit had reinforced the commitment of theapostles, and they carried out this commitment till death. Jesus presents the Father to usmeaning the true reality of God. God looks on us with all kindness andcompassion, while we humans are taken up to His level that enables us to meetHim. At the moment of incarnation, the Trinity of God was present in the Sonconceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary, born and cared for in a humble familyof Nazareth. In all of Jesus' public ministry, the Trinity was also there towork for the redemption of mankind. At the end of our lives in the world, theTrinity in heaven welcomes us in eternal life as a sign of eternal salvationthat is available for all of us. For us as followers of Christ,questions like Philip and Tomas are naturally irrelevant. We are not in aposition to question whether we doubt about Jesus and the Father are one. Ourreal position is that we are Jesus' brothers and sisters. On that basis we aretaught the prayer of “Our Father” to be our fundamental prayer. This prayerreally makes us sons and daughters of the Father who is a very loving Father.Jesus is truly the good shepherd, because He knows what we need, namely to bethe beloved sons and daughters of the Father in Heaven.Let's pray. In the name of theFather ... O most loving Father, we thank you for our being your beloved sonsand daughters through our sharing in your Son Jesus Christ. May we continue tolive this gift of sonship and daughtership until the moment of our death. HailMary full of grace ... In the name of the Father ...