When I was still working at a call center, I received a call from one angry and frustrated customer who asked me if I was the president of the company. When I told him I was not, he requested to be transferred to someone higher than me, without giving me a chance to help him. When I transferred the call to my supervisor, he again wanted to speak to someone higher than my supervisor. He did not want to listen to anyone but the president of the company. My supervisor told the customer that it was impossible for him to speak with the president and assured him that she could help resolve his concerns. At the end of the call, the customer’s issue was resolved and my supervisor told me that it was something that I could have resolved on my own if the customer just allowed me to help him.

In the Gospel, Philip said to Jesus, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” It was as if Philip wanted to see someone higher than Jesus. But Jesus said in reply, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”

Oftentimes, when I face difficulties in life, I become like that customer who was unwilling to listen. I even doubted the power of God in my life. If I do not get what I have prayed for, I would seek something better. I become deaf to what the Lord is telling me. But the more I am “unwilling to listen”, the more that Jesus speaks to me in silence. When I have doubts in Him, the more that I feel the love of Jesus. When I seek something better, the more I realize that Jesus is more than enough. The Gospel for today reminds me to have a deeper relationship with Jesus because knowing Jesus is knowing the Father. In whatever difficulties we are experiencing, especially in these times of trial, Jesus remains true to His words, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

By: Sem. Ericson Y. Austria

Today’s Gospel

Jn 14:6-14

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.”