Jump to: Lens | Reflection Prompts | Weekly Practice
First Reading: Acts 6:1-7
Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5, 18-19
Second Reading: 1 Peter 2:4-9
Gospel: John 14:1-12
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled.
You have faith in God; have faith also in me.
In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.
If there were not,
would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come back again and take you to myself,
so that where I am you also may be.
Where I am going you know the way.”
Thomas said to him,
“Master, we do not know where you are going;
how can we know the way?”
Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.
If you know me, then you will also know my Father.
From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
Philip said to him,
“Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.”
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time
and you still do not know me, Philip?
Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.
How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?
The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own.
The Father who dwells in me is doing his works.
Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me,
or else, believe because of the works themselves.
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.”
Anchor Verse
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” — John 14.6
🔎 Lens: The Question Nobody Wants to Admit They’re Still Asking
This Gospel is spoken the night before Jesus dies. The disciples are frightened. Thomas has already said plainly what everyone in the room was thinking: We don’t know where you’re going. How can we know the way?
It’s an honest question. It’s still being asked.
Then Philip — whose feast we celebrate today — steps forward and makes it worse: “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” There’s something disarmingly human about Philip here. He has followed Jesus for three years. He has seen the miracles, heard the teaching, broken bread at this very table. And still: just show us, and that will be enough.
Jesus doesn’t rebuke him. He answers: “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”
Pope Benedict XVI, preaching on this Gospel, drew out what that claim actually means: Christ is the way that leads to the Father, the truth which gives meaning to human existence, and the source of that life which is eternal joy. Not three separate things — one reality, expressed three ways. The way is not a set of directions. The truth is not a collection of propositions. The life is not a prize at the end. They are Christ himself, offered whole.
Benedict also wrote that eternal life comes to us not by itself, but through a relationship — through existential communion with him who is Truth and Love and therefore eternal. This is why the Church points us to the Eucharist, to Scripture, to the sacraments: not as spiritual techniques but as places of encounter with a person.
Philip wanted to see the Father. He had been looking at him the whole time.
Reflection Prompts
- Thomas said “we don’t know the way” and Philip said “just show us the Father.” Which question is closer to where you actually are right now — lost on the road, or asking for more proof?
- Jesus says, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” Where have you most clearly seen Christ this week — in a person, a moment, an unexpected grace? Did you recognize it at the time?
- The second reading calls us “living stones” being built into a spiritual house. A stone doesn’t choose its place in the wall. What might it mean to trust that you are being placed — rather than constantly repositioning yourself?
- Philip followed Jesus for three years before asking “show us the Father.” Familiarity can blur recognition. Is there something about Jesus — or about the Mass — that you have become so used to that you’ve stopped actually seeing it?
Weekly Practice
At Mass
This weekend, when the priest says “Through him, with him, in him” at the end of the Eucharistic Prayer, let those words land slowly. Through — he is the way. With — he is the companion on the road. In — he is the life you are living inside of. You’ve heard it before. Try hearing it again.
After Mass
Choose one moment this week to say, quietly and simply: “I don’t know the way. Lead me.” Not as a prayer formula — just as an honest statement. Philip’s question was enough to get an answer. Yours might be too.
If Tria Via has been meaningful to you: pause after your 8th week or support our work.
Leave a Reply