Gospel: John 14: 7-14
Despite following Jesus for the past three years, the disciples ask Jesus to show them the Father, i.e. to show them God. We might find this shocking were it not for the fact that we ourselves continually ask for the same thing. How many look for signs to confirm their belief, how many run about following rumors of apparitions here and there, how many study the various arguments for God's existence? Even the skeptic and atheist ask - albeit ironically - to see God.
The reason for our own doubts and the skepticism of the world is the fact that we ourselves do not demonstrate God's existence by the way we live our lives. God's fundamental act to human beings is love and mercy: we were brought into existence by God's love and we are spiritually animated by God's mercy. Our lives are supposed to be a response to this love and mercy by being loving and merciful in the world. If we were to actually live this way our doubts would disappear and the skepticism of the world would be allayed.
But as long as we look to create empires of religion and create false gods of politics and religious frauds, then people have a right to doubt and our own faith will be insecure because it is not rooted in God at all but in our own impermanence and illusions. If we wish to demonstrate God's existence to others, if we wish to have a more secure faith, perform acts of love and mercy toward our neighbors, toward all. God's presence will be evident therein.
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