Jesus said to his disciples:”Do not let your hearts be troubled.You have faith in God; have faith also in me.In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.If there were not,would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?And if I go and prepare a place for you,I will come back again and take you to myself,so that where I am you also may be.Where I am going you know the way.”Thomas said to him,”Master, we do not know where you are going;how can we know the way?”Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life.No one comes to the Father except through me.If you know me, then you will also know my Father.From now on you do know him and have seen him.”Philip said to him,”Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.”Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a timeand you still do not know me, Philip?Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?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.Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me,or else, believe because of the works themselves.Amen, amen, I say to you,whoever believes in me will do the works that I do,and will do greater ones than these,because I am going to the Father.”

whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in my name, I will do

In his book “holy is his name” Scott Hahn presents a progression of the word holiness throughout the history of the world. When the lord first presented himself to his creation Adam and Eve, He walked with them in the garden, he had a friendship and mutual love with them. But then they rejected Him and chose sin instead. No one can be in the presence of god in a state of sin, and so they were expelled from the garden, and their releationship with god completely changed. It was at this point that God set in motion is plan to save us from sin and restore us to eden. This was not going to be a short process. First, He would have to first teach us who we are; We are meek, mortal and weak, humble not divine, and Helplesslly dependant on Him. Second, he would teach us who He is, Awesome, and perfect, and glorious. Then finally at the end of all time, he would restore us to him in heaven, and He will show his his love for us, and his hope for an eternal relationship with us. We are currently in the that sceond phase, amidst the story of salvation, and hoping to someday reconcile ourselves with him. This story of savation started with abraham, and later moses, with the lord speaking to them from the clouds, but not present physically. Then the ark was created and the shekina cloud came to be with them in the desert. The cloud lead them when they traveled, and it resided in the ark when they camped. The presence walked with them as they moved to the promised land. Then they eventually settled in the promised land, and built a temple, and the ark was placed in the center, and instead of the presence travelling with them the pressence now has a home, and the world of the jews then resides with him, and their whold world was built around it. Next the temple is destroyed, and the pressnece left them for awhile, and the world of the jews was desolate until the incarnation. Then the lord was incarnated, became man, suffered and died, and left us the new covenant of the eucharist. God creator of the universe, unapproachable and awesome, was eternally separated from us because of our sin. But He desired to be close to us, and so He became man, making his divinity approachable, and his awesomeness tangible. And finally in the eucharist, he allows his divinity to be one with us, not only touchable, and aproachable, but so close that He is inside us. His desire to be close to us, and his plan to bring us out of sin is so infinitely incredible, that it boggles the mind. The final phase of His plan is for us to die in friendship with him, have our final attachment to sin burned away from us in purgatory, and then when we achieve our individual perfection, then we get to enter back into eternity in heaven with the lord, to walk with him in the garden, and love and be loved by the lord himself. The miracle of this gift from the lord is hard to believe, but Jesus tells us today that we will do all of these things and more in his name. How on earth is this possible. How can we as mere humans do miracles? We do not have super powers, we are not gods. But jesus said it is so, so we must sit up and pay attention. The answer is in the second part of this reading, he said “whatever you ask in my name I will do” this is how this is possible, through the power and mercy of the lord. We see in acts that even the shadow of peter had the power to heal. This is not something that is special about peter, but rather the lord using peter as a vessel to bring forth his healing salvation. This too is our call. we need to be open to the lord and allow him to work through us, to be his hands and his feet in this world, doing HIS will, not our own. If we succeed at this task then we will be the “bringers” of great miracles, and even more… But what could be greater than a miracle? Some of the Church’s greatest theologians have insisted that the resurrection of Lazarus pales in comparison to the power of the confessional. Additionally, St. Augustine wrote “The justification of the ungodly is something greater than the creation of heaven and earth, greater even than the creation of the angels.” Indeed what miracle could possibly be greater than helping a sinner become free of attachment to sin, and what could possibly be more important than helping a person walk out of hell, and enter into an eternity with god in heaven. Finally St. James said “My brothers, if anyone among you should stray from the truth and someone bring him back, he should know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” This is what we are here on this world to do. Whether it is raising our families, working on cursillo team, or standing up for the truth in our workplaces and communities, we are called to save souls and slay error. Allow the lord to use your shadow to change peoples hearts, and convert their souls. There is no greater call, and there is no greater gift than to be a vessel of gods mercy and to be in the flow of gods grace as it works in this world.

Oh lord, help me to be your hands and feet in this world. Help me to help others to return to you, and reconsile their sin with you, and hopefully enter into the eternity of joy and happiness with you in heaven. amen.