Posted by The WORD in other words (2018) by Fr Bernard Espiritu SVD – New Zealand
Saturday 4th Week iof Easter
After my last Sunday mass at Our Lady of Aparecida in Porto Meira, Foz do Iguaçu in my 7 years of missionary work in Brazil, a parish leader, Enrique, handed me a beautifully and colorfully embroidered shawl as a ‘thank you’ gift from the community.
I was so surprised because shawls are for women! Why for me? To my quick question, came a sharp-witted reply from Enrique: “We are giving the gift to your mom because we know she is a dedicated, good, and hardworking mother.” To which I abruptly asked in return, “How do you know that my mother is that kind of person?” And Enrique retorted, “Because we have met you!”
I was dumbfounded when I heard Enrique’s line of thought. I will never forget that moment because on that day, Jn 14:7-14 became an event for me. I am challenged to ask myself if I have also made known the Resurrected Christ to people in my life’s journey.
This Easter Season is a good time to remember when gospel passages, like we have just read, have become truly life-giving events. The challenge is to ask the Resurrected Christ to help us become his faithful witnesses that with him, we may say in a faith-filled declaration: “If you know me, then you will also know my Lord.” It was this Resurrected Christ too who also said, “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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