Philip's invitation to us, our invitation to others

Sisters and brothers in Christ, today is the Memorial of Saint John Neumann, Bishop.

Like in the Garden of Eden when God the Father goes looking for Adam & Eve, who hid from Him, the Father sent His Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to be the Good Shepherd who comes looking for us. And when Christ finds us, as he found Philip in today's Gospel, he invites us to follow him. In that moment, we have a decision to make. Are we willing to make changes in our life to follow Jesus - the Way and the Truth and the Life - and have eternal life? Or do we continue on our current path and deny ourselves the tremendous blessing of getting to know our Lord and our God?

However, if we do choose to follow Jesus, which is THE BEST decision we could ever make, then we would have to live by His commandments, beautifully simplified to love of God and love of neighbors. Saint John explains in his first letter (today's first reading): "This is the message you have heard from the beginning: we should love one another. . . Whoever does not love remains in death." We love because God loves us first and sent His Son to save us; from Saint John once again: "The way we came to know love was that he laid down his life for us; so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers."

Moreover, Saint John teaches us: ". . .let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth." Therefore, as Jesus laid down his life for us out of love, we are called to do the same for each other. It is a challenging call to follow Jesus but it can be a grace-filled journey with the help of the Holy Spirit. And then, out of love for our brothers, we invite them, as Philip invited Nathanael, saying "Come and see" our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

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Gospel of the Day

Jesus decided to go to Galilee, and he found Philip.

And Jesus said to him, "Follow me."

Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter.

Philip found Nathanael and told him,

"We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law,

and also the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth."

But Nathanael said to him,

"Can anything good come from Nazareth?"

Philip said to him, "Come and see."

Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him,

"Here is a true child of Israel.

There is no duplicity in him."

Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?"

Jesus answered and said to him,

"Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree."

Nathanael answered him,

"Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."

Jesus answered and said to him,

"Do you believe

because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree?

You will see greater things than this."

And he said to him, "Amen, amen, I say to you,

you will see the sky opened and the angels of God

ascending and descending on the Son of Man."