Being Found by the Lord

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 and I. He says to us, as He said to Philip: “Follow me.”  What do you and I need to leave behind to be truly following the Lord. And once we have begun that journey, do we, in turn, invite others? Do we, like Nathaniel, ask: “What good can come out of Nazareth?”  What  good, do we ask, is there in following the Lord: going to church, practicing the faith, saying prayers as a family, teaching our children the faith, reading the Bible, speaking up for justice and right, reaching out to a needy neighbor, volunteering at a food pantry or a soup kitchen, being involved in parish activities? 

Perhaps we do not realize that everything we do in the name of the Lord and for and with the Lord prepares us to see “the sky opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of man,” and on us at our last hour!