SPEAKER_00: Today, the church celebrates the feast of Saint Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church.
SPEAKER_00: Today in the gospel, we see Philip has been with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He's heard his teachings, he's seen the miracles, he's walked the roads, watched him pray, been there right there at his side.
SPEAKER_00: And still he says, Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus responds with something that is almost painful to hear.
SPEAKER_00: Have I been with you so long and you still do not know me?
SPEAKER_00: Do you hear that?
SPEAKER_00: It's not a question about information.
SPEAKER_00: This is a question about relationship.
SPEAKER_00: Because you know, you can know about Jesus and still not know him.
SPEAKER_00: You can know the prayers, you can know the language, you can know the rhythm of the church, and your life remains unchanged.
SPEAKER_00: This is what we've been talking about all this past week.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Jesus is confronting.
SPEAKER_00: Not ignorance, familiarity without conversion.
SPEAKER_00: Whoever has seen me has seen the Father, he says.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, you are not waiting for more revelation.
SPEAKER_00: You are not just some missing piece.
SPEAKER_00: God has already shown himself.
SPEAKER_00: The question is not, has God revealed himself?
SPEAKER_00: The question is, have you revealed him?
SPEAKER_00: Now in the first reading, Paul stands up and preaches, and something powerful happens.
SPEAKER_00: The whole city gathers, the word is spreading, grace is moving, and then just as quickly, resistance, jealousy, rejection, opposition.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul says something that should shake us.
SPEAKER_00: Since you reject it, we now turn to the Gentiles.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, the gospel will move forward whether you receive it or not.
SPEAKER_00: This is the part that we don't like.
SPEAKER_00: We like to think grace will wait for us, that it will always be there at our convenience, that we can come around eventually.
SPEAKER_00: But the gospel shows us something different.
SPEAKER_00: Grace is offered, but it's not forced.
SPEAKER_00: You can hear it, you can be close to it, you can even be surrounded by it and still miss it.
SPEAKER_00: And that's exactly what is happening in the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Philip is not far away, he's not on the outside, he's right there, and still he doesn't see it.
SPEAKER_00: That should kind of make us uncomfortable because there are people who have been in the church for years, all their lives, and still don't know him.
SPEAKER_00: They know when to stand, they know when to kneel, they know the words, but their life has not been changed.
SPEAKER_00: Their hearts have not surrendered.
SPEAKER_00: Their decisions are still driven by the same fears, the same habits, and the same patterns.
SPEAKER_00: That is what Jesus is addressing.
SPEAKER_00: Have I been with you for so long and you still do not know me?
SPEAKER_00: And then he says something extraordinary.
SPEAKER_00: Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and even greater ones, which means this if you truly know him, your life will begin to look like his, not perfectly, but unmistakably.
SPEAKER_00: You will love differently, you will see things differently, you will respond differently, you will forgive more quickly, you will stop judging, you will stop living only for yourself, and you will begin to reflect on him and everything that he does.
SPEAKER_00: And this is where Saint Athanasius enters.
SPEAKER_00: Saint Athanasian lived in a time when confusion spread throughout the whole church.
SPEAKER_00: Leaders were compromised, truth was softened, clarity was lost, and he stood up all and he stood almost alone.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because he did know Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He knew him not as an idea, not as a theory, but as a reality.
SPEAKER_00: And once you know him, you cannot preach or pretend otherwise.
SPEAKER_00: This is the difference.
SPEAKER_00: Not knowledge, but conviction.
SPEAKER_00: Now this brings it all back to you again.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know him?
SPEAKER_00: Not know about him.
SPEAKER_00: Do you really know him?
SPEAKER_00: Because if you do, it will show.
SPEAKER_00: People will see in your priorities and your decisions, in the way you respond when life does not go your way, in the way you stand when it would be easier to step back or walk away.
SPEAKER_00: If you do, and if you do not, then today's the moment.
SPEAKER_00: Not to learn more, but to respond.
SPEAKER_00: Because grace is moving, the gospel is moving.
SPEAKER_00: The question is not whether it will go forward, the question is whether it will move through you.
SPEAKER_00: Will it move through you and around you?
SPEAKER_00: Do not mistake being around Jesus for knowing him.
SPEAKER_00: Do not mistake familiarity with conversion.
SPEAKER_00: Do not mistake comfort for faith.
SPEAKER_00: Because the gospel is not asking you to stay close, it's asking you to change, to live differently, to respond differently.
SPEAKER_00: And if you let him in, really in, your life will not stay the same.
SPEAKER_00: You're going to be a different person.
SPEAKER_00: You will begin to see differently.
SPEAKER_00: You will begin to love differently.
SPEAKER_00: You will begin to live your life in a whole new way.
SPEAKER_00: Because when you know Jesus Christ, you know the Father.
SPEAKER_00: And when you know the Father, you stop searching, you stop wandering, you stop feeling that void inside, and you stop settling.
SPEAKER_00: You begin to truly live fully, freely, and with a conviction that is not with confusion, with no pressures, with no opposition.
SPEAKER_00: So do not stay at a distance, do not stay at the surface, do not stay familiar and comfortable.
SPEAKER_00: Come to know him in a concrete way and let your life prove it that you are a disciple of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.