The Feast of
Saints Philip and James, apostles
(I Corinthians 15:1-8; John 14:6-14)
St. Veronica is the legendary woman whose name is
associated with a famous maneuver in bullfighting. She is always portrayed as holding with both
hands the cloth with which she wiped the face of Jesus and on which his image
remains. In bullfighting when the matador
swipes the cape held with both hands before the charging bull, he has performed
a veronica. The name Veronica
actually means true image, but in the
gospel the true image does not refer to Veronica or her cloth, but to Jesus
himself who is the perfect representation of God the Father.
The apostle Philip has trouble understanding Jesus when
he says that anyone who has seen him has seen the Father. “Show us the Father,” Philip requests, not
out of defiance but from confusion. It is the same difficulty that Dan Brown
and many others have in imagining that Jesus is really God. “He was a remarkable man,” the skeptics say
and then ask, “but how could he be the creator of the ever-expanding
universe?” It is this awesome wonder that
makes the Incarnation one of the two core beliefs of Christianity.
Jesus invites us to believe in him by promising to
empower us to work mighty deeds. What
does he have in mind – to turn water into wine?
No, one expert says, Jesus is not referring here to “the petty things of
life.” Rather he means to help us overcome
lust, greed, and pride. Even more, he promises
to enable us to assist the poor who may repel us and love the enemy who might
harm us. In all these ways he prepares
us to live with him in glory.
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