Discernment: In today’s
Gospel, Jesus goes to Galilee and there finds Philip. Jesus says to Philip: “Follow
me.” Philip, in turn, finds Nathaniel
and says to him: “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and
also the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth. Nathaniel asks Philip: “Can
anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip does not argue but says: “Come and
see.” Jesus sees Nathaniel coming “toward
him and said of him, “Here is a true child of Israel. There I no duplicity in
him.” “How do you know me,” Nathaniel
asks. “Before Philip called you, I saw
you under the fig tree.” “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of
Israel,” Nathaniel responds. “Do you
believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see
greater things than this…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.”
Just as Jesus found Philip, so, too, does He find you. He says to you, as He said to Philip: “Follow
me.” What do you need to leave behind to
be truly following the Lord? And once you have begun in earnest to live by
faith and grow in your relationship with the Lord, whom, to you invite to do
the same? Do you, like Nathaniel, when invited to meet Jesus, ”son of Joseph,
from Nazareth,” ask: “What good can come
out of Nazareth?” Furthermore, if invited to become a woman
religious, a man religious, a priest, a deacon, do you ask: “What
good is there in entering religious life, in studying to become a priest, a
deacon?” Come and see! Take that next step
and pay attention to that small, persistent inner voice inviting you to
consecrate your life solely to the Lord.
Perhaps you do not realize that you “will see greater
things...” if you trust the Lord totally in His call to you, in His invitation
to follow Him unreservedly as a woman/man religious, as a priest, as a
deacon. Remember that could be the same
if God is calling you to sacramental marriage or to the single lifestyle.
