Apr 23: The Father Is Ever Present Through The Word

Albrecht Dürer Saint Philip the Apostle
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, 1516

Saturday of the Fourth Week of Easter

Gospel: Jn 14:7-14

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father (NRSV, Jn 14:8-9a).”

Father, we find you in a number of ways.

We can walk in your footprints, examining what you do in creation, learning about the craftsman from the work he has done.

Mostly, we find you by looking inward, deep within ourselves where we always find your Word challenging us to grow in the Holy Spirit in whom we share your very life. Even when we reject you in sin, the Word remains present to us offering us your forgiveness and the renewed gift of your Holy Spirit.

And so we find you, Father, by looking outward at the world you have created or inwards to the Word through whom you create everything that is.

If the Word always dwells within all of us, Father, we also find your Word in a way that is tangible and visible, for the Word has been made flesh in our Lord Jesus. Through Jesus, Father, we meet you in a human body, here among us, sharing our joys and sorrows and even passing through death with us.

And we do not forget, Father, that we also meet you in a tangible and visible way in your Church in the sacred actions you perform in our midst, the actions which we know as sacraments.

Father, there is no situation possible in which you are not present to us through your Word. May we ever be responsive to the gift of your life which you always offer to us.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.