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Saints PHILIP and JAMES
Apostles -Feast
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Thursday, 03 May 2012
Saint(s) of the day : Sts Philip and James, apostles (†
1st century)
See commentary below or click here
Saint Bruno of Segni : "Believe me that I am in the
Father and the Father is in me"
First Letter to the Corinthians 15:1-8.
I am reminding
you, brothers and sisters, of the Gospel I preached to you, which you indeed
received and in which you also stand.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 14:6-14.
Jesus said to him, "I am the
way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Saint Bruno of Segni (c.1045-1123), Bishop
Commentary on Saint John's Gospel; PL 165, 562
"Believe
me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me"
«I am the Way.» Why? Because «no one comes to the
Father except through me.» «I am the Truth.» How is this? Because no one knows
the Father except through me: «no one knows the Father except the Son and
anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him» (Mt 11,27)... «I am the Life,»
because no one has life 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.»
Jesus is saying to us: «Do you want to come to the
Father? Do you want to know him? First of all get to know me, whom you see, and
then you will know him whom as yet you do not see. You have already seen him
but not as he is in himself; you have seen him in me. You have seen him, but in
spirit and through faith. He it is who speaks in me, for I do not speak of
myself. When you listen to me, you see him, for, when it is a question of
spiritual realities, there is no difference between seeing and hearing: whoever
hears, sees what he hears. Thus you see the Father when you listen to him
speaking in me. And from now on you know him because he abides in you, he is in
you.»
«Philip said to him: Lord, show us the Father and
we shall be satisfied.» Philip was wanting to see the Father, not just in
spirit with the eyes of faith, but still more with the eyes of the flesh.
Moses, too, had said: «If I have found favor in your sight, show me your face
that I may know you.» And the Lord replied: «No one can see my face and live»
(cf. Ex 33,18-20). Here Jesus says to Philip: «Have I been with you for so long
a time and you still do not know me? Philip, he who has seen me has seen the
Father.» Philip spoke about a vision of the senses; Christ calls him to an
interior vision, inviting him to grasp him with the eyes of the soul. «It is so
long a time I have been with you; it is so long a time I have been living with
you; it is so long a time I have been revealing my divinity and power to you
through my words, through signs and miracles, and you do not know me? Philip,
whoever sees me, not with eyes of the flesh, as you believe, but with the eyes
of the heart, as I am telling you, that person sees the Father.»
