The Joy of the Holy Gospel from Pope Benedict XVI
Received
(Jn 14,1-6) "Have faith in God and also in me" (Jn 14:1). These are not two separate acts, but a single act of faith, the full adherence to the salvation accomplished by God the Father through his only Son. The New Testament put an end to the invisibility of the Father. God showed his face, as Jesus' response to the Apostle Philip confirms: "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father" (Jn 14:9). The Son of God, by his incarnation, death, and resurrection, freed us from the slavery of sin to give us the freedom of the children of God, and made known to us the face of God, who is love: God can be seen, he is visible in Christ. (…) Therefore, only by believing in Christ, by remaining united to him, can the disciples, among whom we are also, continue his ongoing action in history: “Truly, truly, I say to you,” says the Lord, “whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do” (Jn 14:12). Faith in Jesus entails following him every day, in the simple actions that make up our day. “It is proper to the mystery of God that he acts discreetly. Only little by little does he construct his story within the great history of humanity. He becomes man, but in such a way that he can be ignored by his contemporaries, by the renowned forces of history. He suffers and dies and, as the Risen One, wishes to reach humanity only through the faith of his own, to whom he reveals himself. He never ceases to gently knock at the doors of our hearts, and if we open them, he slowly makes us capable of ‘seeing.’” (Jesus of Nazareth II, Madrid 2011, p. 321). (Benedict XVI - Regina Caeli, May 22, 2011)