Image Matters
Homily on Saturday, 4th Week of Easter, 17 May 2025, LSCK Chapel, Talamban
Yesterday as we were driving towards Don Bosco Lawaan we noticed that the post-election clean up operations of the city have done a great job of taking down all the campaign materials posted by the electoral candidates. Now if you have observed during the campaign period, almost all those posters and tarpaulins had not only the names but also the pictures of the candidates running for a position in the government. Why is it important to show their picture to the public? It is important because most of us learn faster thru visual aids than audio. We usually want to see first in order to believe, for, as the song goes, a picture paints a thousand words. And marketing analysts say that the better a candidate looks in the picture the more chances he or she has of impressing people and of winning in the elections.
Today in the gospel passage we have heard, Philip the apostle asked the Lord Jesus a very important and reasonable request: “Master, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Sad to say Jesus could only reply with great disappointment. He said to Philip “Have I been with you for so long a time and still you do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father… Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?”
For a very long time in the history of humankind, God had always remained invisible due to the fact that he is a spiritual being and not material; he is the infinite Creator and not a finite creature. But the good news is that by his own power he was made flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary and was born in Bethlehem and was named Jesus on order to save us from our sins and make us sharers in his divine nature. Jesus is no other than God, made visible. He is the image of the invisible God. All who have seen him has seen the Father.
First question for reflection: Like Philip, do I also have a longing to see the Father? Do I manage to feel the nearness of the Father by praying to Jesus and meditating on his varied images?
Furthermore in the Gospel passage we have heard today, Jesus said also to Philip, “Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these.”
What does this really mean? Jesus is not only telling us how blessed we are in seeing the image of God in the face of Jesus, he is also assuring us that our faith in him empowers us to do the same good works that he had done for the salvation of the world. If Jesus preached the Good News of God’s Kingdom, we too can preach and teach the Gospel to others. If Jesus healed the sick, we too will be able to help sick people experience healing. If Jesus was able to make the lame and the crippled walk, we too can enable the weak, the infirm and the disabled to regain strength and be able to walk again in the light of the Lord. If Jesus was able to open the eyes of the blind, we too can help those who cannot see clearly to regain their sight, behold the face of Jesus and find the right direction in life.
Second question for reflection: Has my faith in Jesus become so strong that I now feel so empowered to do the same good works he had done during his public ministry?
May our participation in this Eucharist allow us to experience an intimate encounter with Jesus and empower us to do so many good works greater far than what Jesus had done. And as Jesus had been the image of the Father may we too become the living images of Jesus. GiGsss!
