A Reflection for the Feast of Sts. Philip and James, Apostles
Find today’s readings here.
“Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?
The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own.
The Father who dwells in me is doing his works.”
According to the vibrant wisdom of Schoolhouse Rock, recalled from my childhood, three is a magic number.
So much in life indeed seems to come in threes: “The past and the present and the future…faith and hope and charity.”
There’s more: shamrock leaves, primary colors, musketeers, stooges, troubles, joys, the passing of celebrities; the good, the bad and the ugly; the way, the truth and the life; the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
You’ll forgive that last bit if it comes across as a tad irreverent. But, yes, there, that one, the Holy Trinity indeed is a troublesome triad. Ask any church historian.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus is trying to make sense of two-thirds of the Trinity for his, once again, slightly befuddled disciples. This time it is Philip who is stumbling over a phrase which the Lord has made.
It is hard not to blame him for it. For many of us, the triune God may be something we don’t spend too much time puzzling over, something we’ve etched into our spiritual psyches through weekly repetition and just have learned to leave alone. Over two millennia, however, the concept has not been free of controversy, but instead has been the source of confusion, missteps, heresies, even violence.
Modern Christians have had centuries to puzzle and fight, sometimes mortally, over the meaning of the Trinity, the Father and the Son, begotten not made, one in being. The best we can come up with: It’s a mystery of faith.
If you feel like you are finally getting a handle in it, you may not be understanding it at all.
Poor Philip only had a few moments to make sense out of it as Jesus did his best to spell it out for him—and not coincidentally for us.
Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?
The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own.
The Father who dwells in me is doing his works.
But Philip was at the same time more fortunate than we modern believers and seekers, the faithful asked to believe without ever having seen. He had more to go on—he had the wisdom of his own experience to enlighten and guide him “because of the works themselves” that he witnessed firsthand.
Of course we can all still get a view of the divine, the mystic and the everlasting in our everyday lives. If you keep your eyes, mind and heart (three!) open, you can find that even the most humdrum life is crowded with creation and miracle and mystery.
We can join in joyful co-creation ourselves. Protect it, nurture it, love it into being.
As Schoolhouse Rock puts it: “A man and a woman had a little baby…”
It takes three. “It's a magic number.”
