Philip, Apostle and Martyr

In John’s Gospel (1:43), we are told that Jesus “found Philip” and instructed him to “Follow me.” Several other times, John mentions Philip. Philip, for example, was responsible for bringing his friend, Nathanael (believed to be the Apostle, Bartholomew), to Jesus. Philip was present at the marriage feast at Cana and at the feeding of the five thousand. It was here that Jesus tested Philip when he saw the large crowd who had come to hear him. “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” (Jn 6:5), he asked Philip. Philip, not recognizing that Jesus was about to perform a sign for all of them, replied, “Six months wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little.” Jesus then took the five barley loaves and two dried fish and fed the crowd after which the disciples gathered twelve baskets of fragments of the barley loaves.

Just as he tested Philip about feeding the crowd, Jesus sometimes tests our faith with adversity. While these trials can seem overwhelming, we should remember that God is with us even when we cannot feel his presence.