Even though people may not have an active relationship with God, nor are involved in church or in prayer, they feel that they are emotionally drawn towards the church, and in the silence of the sanctuary or in hearing some liturgical music, they are moved even to tears. How can one be moved when one is not even directly involved in religion? The answer is: the soul longs for God. We have a hunger or thirst for something inside of us: the hunger for God. We are incomplete without God. St. Augustine puts it so succinctly in his Confessions: “You have made us for yourselves, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until we rest in you.” Human reality is characterized by an ongoing dissatisfaction within our soul, which nothing in this world can fill, only God. The world proposes attracting models for happiness: a nice car, a beautiful house, a beautiful body, a large salary. While we may feel happy for a brief moment, dissatisfaction follows. Our fragility and our restless heart can be our best avenue to search for God. Philip’s request to Jesus to show him and his companions the Father echoes the longing of God’s people from generation to generation. The psalmist declares, “My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the Lord, my heart and flesh cry out for the living God” (Ps 84:3).

Philip probably expects a divine theophany, like what Moses experienced at Mount Sinai or Elijah at Mount Horeb. But God no longer “shows his face” as of old, because he is now revealed in Jesus who is the face of the Father. With the incarnation of the divine Logos, Jesus has become “the image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15). He now answers to our human longings.

On the following sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and with violent abuse contradicted what Paul said. Both Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first, but since you reject it and condemn yourselves as unworthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, I have made you a light to the Gentiles, that you may be an instrument of salvation to the ends of the earth.”

The Gentiles were delighted when they heard this and glorified the word of the Lord. All who were destined for eternal life came to believe, and the word of the Lord continued to spread through the whole region. The Jews, however, incited the women of prominence who were worshipers and the leading men of the city, stirred up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their territory. So they shook the dust from their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium. The disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.

“All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.” or “Alleluia.”