Homily: May 3, 2022, Feast of Saints Philip and James, Apostles

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 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip?”

There is an excellent radio program on EWTN known as: “Called to Communion”. It is a live call-in show where non-Catholics and lapsed Catholics can ask Dr. David Anders all sorts of questions about being Catholic. And people really asked many interesting questions.

I always wonder, if I were to be asked those same questions, would I be able to answer them? Even though I have been a Catholic all my life, and studied theology extensively, there are still many things I am ignorant of in my faith. There are still so much about Jesus that I do not know. Do you know everything about Jesus?

I doubt so. Jesus lived with the disciples daily for three years and still they did not know him fully. While we have the benefit of hindsight and two thousand years of revelation, yet we can’t claim to know it all.

I like drinking coffee. In my previous assignment, I used to drink coffee every day in the office. I sometimes bring my cup of coffee to office meetings. One day, a staff member who had been working closely with me, suddenly exclaimed, when she saw me with the coffee cup, “Oh my goodness, I didn’t know that you drink coffee.” And I had already been there for two years.

I felt like Jesus, “Have I been with you so long a time and you still do not know me?”

I think that is not unusual. Even after years of marriage, couples will still discover new things about each other.

If we can’t fully know the people whom we see daily, how can we fully know God whom we do not see?

But God doesn’t hide anything from us. Jesus revealed Himself, and thus revealed God to His disciples. And continues to reveal Himself to us through the Church, through scripture and tradition. And through simple daily inspirations and moments of grace. If only we open our minds and hearts to see, feel and understand.

Do we take time to see, feel and understand Jesus, with our heart and mind?

The more we take time to know a person, the more we learn to love that person. And the more we grow to love a person, the more we will come to know that person.

God wants us to know Him and love Him. Will you take time out daily to discover more about Him, to study Him, to think about Him?

Will you spend time daily to sit with Him, chat with Him and encounter Him personally, intimately, attentively?


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