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.”
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Reflection:
A typical marriage vows goes like this: For better,
for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us
part. A man and a woman become one by virtue of the Sacrament of
Marriage.
Jesus objective for instituting this Sacrament is to permanently
bind these two separate and distinct individuals so that they may become one.
This union must always be for life. It must never be based on convenience but
based on mutual trust and respect for each other.
In the gospel for today, it is very obvious that Jesus
wants to point out to Philip and to us too that He and God the father are one.
Although God the Father and Jesus are two different persons, they are one and
the same God. They both have the same desire for all of humanity and that is
salvation for us all.
We believe this oneness of Jesus and God the Father,
although they are two different persons. We must also strongly believe in the
Sanctity of the Sacrament of Matrimony. That it is a union for life and nobody
can separate both spouses except mortal death.
But sad to say, many of us violates the sanctity of
Marriage and the result is sometimes separation. And who is to blame for this?
To blame is the arrogance of many of us for we don’t want to subscribe to the
laws of God. We instead follow our selfish desires which in the end don’t bring
us any good except endless misery. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
