Master, show us the Father, that will be enough for us.
You know, sometimes we give the apostles a hard time.
How could they not know who He was?
You know, in some ways it is true.
There should be some questions.
I mean, they did witness Him raise some from the dead.
You know, Jairus' daughter, the widow's son of Nain and Lazarus.
He did heal blind people and lame people and deaf people.
He healed people of the flu.
All these things, but yet they still didn't know Him.
We can be a little harsh on them.
How can you say, show us the Father, Jesus tells them?
Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?
He's sharing with them that He's God, but they're not getting it.
The words that I speak to you, I did not speak on my own.
This is a beautiful thing about Samaritan Trinity, fully human, fully divine.
Sometimes He speaks from the fully human, which He's doing here.
Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.
Three persons in one being, that's the God that we worship.
Whenever you see in scripture, amen, twice in a row, it means something important is being said.
Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do.
Whoever believes in me will do the will of God.
What is the will of God?
For us to be in heaven for all eternity, that's what He's calling us to do.
And we'll do greater ones than these because I'm going to the Father.
Whatever you ask in my name, I will do so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.
As long as it matches the will of God, those prayers are answered.
He's sending all of us.
We have that same vocation that Mary has, to bring Christ into the world.
Contemplate the apostles.
Were they quick to go out and do the will of God?
No.
They were locked in the upper room for fear of what?
Of the Jews.
Fear that the same thing is going to happen to them.
They were worried.
They were afraid.
But then when they had an encounter with our Lord, things changed.
He appears to them through locked doors and He shows them His hands.
That means He's showing them their sins.
Your sins caused this to happen.
But He's not mad at them.
He says, Shalom, peace be with you.
I want what's best for you.
And again, that goes back to what's best for you.
I want you in heaven.
That's what's best for you.
That's what you've been created to do, to be in heaven for all eternity.
And after He breathed on them, they all went out and built His church, which we have the great luxury of having.
And all but one died a martyr's death.
Well, my friends, we are called to go out and swell.
At the end of Mass, when I say go forth, the Mass has ended.
The work is now beginning.
You're going to encounter Jesus in the Eucharist.
You're going to encounter that.
It's not a symbol.
It's His body, blood, soul, and divinity given to us so that we can go out and bring Jesus into the world.
God is so amazing.
And remember, He took a few loaves of bread and a few fish and fed more than 5,000.
And then there was more left over than what He began with.
We come in here with just a little bit, and when we come into this church, we are representing Jesus dying on the cross for us, the ultimate loving action for us.
We must know that when we come in here, as we bring just a little bit of ourselves in here, and then He is going to give us His body, blood, soul, and divinity as we go forth.
And we can't hang on to it.
That's the amazing thing about this gift of the Eucharist.
We can't store it up.
We get the gift from God, and then we have to go out and share it.
Otherwise, we lose it.
And He's calling us to go out just like the apostles.
Will we be persecuted?
Yes.
Will people not like us for our stance?
Absolutely.
But just like Mary, when those tough times come, we need to realize that this journey is all about doing the will of God.
And if He loved us enough to give of His life for us in a very cruel way of death, then we should respond back to Him and love Him back by doing what He wants us to do, to bring Him into the world, to find those people that are lost and wandering about, and to let them know that there is a God.
He's loving.
He's merciful.
He's good for us.
And He wants us in heaven for all eternity.
Through prayer and the Eucharist, we will encounter God in a very profound way.
As we continue this Mass, let's always make sure we recognize God is in our midst and He's in our presence every moment of every day.
He never leaves us.
And we're going to encounter Him in the Eucharist.
He's going to bless us and send us.
Let's always remember to do the will of God, just like Mary did.
Amen.