Message of Abbot Paul - Wednesday 3rd May 2023

Today the Church keeps the feast of the Apostles Saints Philip and James, a feast originally kept on 1st May, the day of the consecration of the Basilica of the Holy Apostles in Rome. This changed in 1955, when Pope Pius XII instituted the memoria of St Joseph the Worker to salvage International Workers Day from the Communists in Italy and throughout Europe, giving the celebration a Christian face. As a result, the feast of the Apostles was translated to May 3rd.

 

​The Gospel passage for today comes from John, (Jn 14: 6-14), where we hear Philip interacting with Jesus. To begin with, Jesus says to Thomas, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you know me, you know my Father too. From this moment you know him and have seen him.”

These words of Jesus cause Philip to come forward and say to Jesus. “Lord, let us see the Father and then we shall be satisfied.” Philip asks for the moon, does he not? Jesus does not castigate Philip for his words, but patiently explains. “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me?” It would appear that the disciples still do not know Jesus or understanding what he is saying to them when he speaks of himself and the Father.

 

​Jesus continues:

“To have seen me is to have seen the Father,

so how can you say, ‘Let us see the Father’?

Do you not believe

that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?

The words I say to you I do not speak as from myself:

it is the Father, living in me, who is doing this work.

You must believe me when I say

that I am in the Father and the Father is in me;

believe it on the evidence of this work, if for no other reason.

I tell you most solemnly,

whoever believes in me

will perform the same works as I do myself,

he will perform even greater works,

because I am going to the Father.

Whatever you ask for in my name I will do,

so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

If you ask for anything in my name,

I will do it.”

The words of Jesus are powerfully Christological, as he explains fully to the disciples his relationship with the Father. Listening to Jesus, could anyone doubt his word, and yet many did, especially the scribes and Pharisees and the high priests, who denounced Jesus to be a blasphemer and had him arrested, an action that ultimately led to his trial and crucifixion. Jesus goes on to promise the disciples that anyone who believes in him will do even greater things than he is doing. When we turn to the Acts of the Apostles, we can see that the promise of Jesus was true and abundantly fulfilled.