"Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me?"

 "Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied"; and Jesus replied: "Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me...? He who has seen me has seen the Father." These words were spoken during the farewell discourse at the end of the paschal supper, which was followed by the events of those holy days during which confirmation was to be given once and for all of the fact that "God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ." From Dives in Misericordia (The Mercy of God) -Pope John Paul II

I'm doing a novena to the late great Pope John Paul II right now. Each day, along with prayers there is a reading from one of his works. The above paragraph is from yesterday's reading. It's one of those readings that kicks me in the gut when I read it. I mean, the WHOLE of it literally makes me feel like the wind has been knocked out of me and not in a good way either...

"Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied"...First off, the innocence and ignorance of the apostles. They wanted to be satisfied, something we all want. We seek the 'fullness'..the 'completeness' that only God can give. Most of us seek out this satisfaction in some way shape or form in earthly things, food, drugs, affirmation, sex, attention (enter your own vice here). The apostles are wise enough to go to the source here and as I'm reading it I think, "If I were only so wise as to just bring my struggles to Jesus and say show me the Father!" and then Jesus replies....
"Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me..." All together now....Ouuuuuuuccchhhh! It hurts because it's so true. We who have given our lives over to the Lord on a daily basis forget what and WHO is the source of our fulfillment and happiness. Do I really know Him? 
Pope Benedict recently met with youth and answered questions of them. When one youth asked him how we could 'know' Jesus, the Pope replied,

"Only with the opening of the heart to him, only with knowledge of the whole of what he has said and done, with our love, with our going to him, can we little by little know him ever more and thus also have the experience of being loved," the Holy Father said. ... One must also act: "To do good things, to be committed to one's neighbor." (read the whole interview here)

If we KNOW Him....we know the Father...we know that which is our fulfillment. "He who has seen me has seen the Father" and we should have no place in our lives for these things that tempt us into believing that they could ever REALLY satisfy.

And the truth is....we don't know Him perfectly. We fail, we sin....we get back up again (pardon the rhyming) and our 'efforts' are so small and yet infinitely valued.
I cook, clean after, care for, transport, pay for, and protect my son. Not to mention the hours of suffering that went into bringing him into this world... He could never really 'pay me back' nor do I want him to. What is desired from me is a response of love. So...a spontaneous 'yuv you' is all I need to melt my heart'. Of course it could never equal the things we 'do' for him...and it's not a requirement but it is a natural response from him.

Our response of love is so small in comparison to His infinite Mercy.
"God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ."



 A good reflection for Holy Week.....whew.