Jesus rebukes the Apostles’ lack of belief in Him. Every Catholic man can grow in happiness by seeking the Virtue of Faith so he can believe without fully understanding the Mysteries of God and by building the Virtue of Diligence so he can always pray with confidence in the Holy Name of Jesus Christ.
Liturgy
4th Week of Easter – Saturday – Jn 14:7-14
Commentary
Jesus continues His Farewell Discourse (Jn 13:31-16:33) during Holy Week, preparing the Apostles for their mission after His departure. Despite Jesus’ supernatural revelations of His betrayal, Passion, and the triumph of His Resurrection, the Apostles are confused and deathly afraid. Jesus comforts them, confirming His absolute Dominion, that He is the “way”, “the life”, and the “truth”, and that He has the exclusive power to grant men eternal life. Jesus reaffirms that He and God the Father are one and mysteriously promises He will return and bring them to Heaven.
When the Apostles remain confused, Jesus rebukes their disbelief. Jesus reasserts His Divinity (twice) by confirming that those who see Him actually see God the Father, an incredible revelation of the Divine Knowledge and Power Jesus possesses and the astounding unity of the Trinity. When Philip asks for Him to show them the Father, Jesus rebukes Philip (and by extension, all the Apostles) for his ignorance and disbelief that Jesus is in God the Father and the Father is in Him. To break through the Apostles’ disbelief and confusion, Jesus challenges them to accept the evidence of His Divinity: His works and miracles are proof that God the Father dwells in Him and that He and the Father are one.
To further strengthen the Apostles, Jesus makes an emphatic (“Truly, truly…”) prophecy about the power of belief: those who believe in Jesus will be able to perform miraculous works like Him because Jesus is going to the Father. To glorify God the Father, Jesus promises to grant miraculous power to those who “ask in His [My] name”; Jesus will soon reveal the power He grants will be given through the Holy Spirit (Jn 14:16-17), another mysterious allusion to the Trinity. Jesus’ revelation is also an exhortation: He expects His Apostles to carry on and spread the Gospel after His departure.
Be awed by Jesus Christ
Be awed by Jesus’ revelation of His union with God the Father: Son of the Father, He reveals that, though clearly different Divine Persons, He and the Father are perfectly “in” one another, a mysterious reality beyond human comprehension; because He is “in” the Father, and the Father is “in” Him, Jesus has the Divine Authority and Divine Power to fulfill the petitions of those who ask in His name, and makes the astounding promise that His men will be able to do even greater works than the works that Jesus has done in the Incarnation.
Seek a Faith that surpasses understanding
Realize: God, in His infinite knowledge and power, is often mysterious because He is beyond the ability of mere men to fully grasp, leading some men to be uncertain (agnostics), or to turn away (atheists), because they can’t comprehend the incomprehensible.
Believe: Reflect upon the astounding Mysteries of Christ (CCC 514-521).
Pray: Almighty Father, help me to grow in the Virtue of Faith so I can have a faith so sure, that I can joyously and confidently believe in the fullness of Your truth and Your Holy Catholic Church, especially when I don’t fully understand.
Pray in the Holy Name of Jesus
Realize: Because Jesus has gone to God the Father, He has the power to answer the prayers of those who “pray in His name” (i.e. “In Your Holy Name Jesus, I pray…”).
Believe: Reflect upon Prayers of Petition (CCC 2607-2616, 2629-2636, 2825).
Pray: Jesus, Perfection of Diligence, help me grow in the Virtue of Diligence (a part of Temperance) so I build a habit of fervently making my petitions in Your Holy Name, in accordance with Your Will.