Third Week of Easter
16th April 2024 (Tuesday)
Psalter: Week 3
Reading of the Day
First Reading: Acts 7:51-8:1a
In those days: Stephen said to the people and the elders and the scribes, “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.” Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. And Saul approved of his execution.
Psalm 31:3bc-4, 6 and 7b-8a, 17 and 21ab (R. 6a)
R/. Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
Gospel Acclamation
V/. Alleluia
R/. Alleluia
V/. I am the bread of life, says the Lord; whoever comes to me shall not hunger.
R/. Alleluia.
Gospel : John 6:30-35
At that time: The people said to Jesus, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
Daily Gospel Reflection
Tuesday – Third Week of Easter
Guidelines: As the goal is, so too is the effort: when the goals are higher and praiseworthy, the efforts too will be higher and more intent
1. As long as we are earth-bound, our pursuits and successes will also be earth-bound. Unless we raise ourselves to higher realm and strive for higher things, we cannot raise the level of our life. One constant problem of Jesus with Jews was their refusal to see beyond the earthly factors like lineage, place, culture, food and drink, capacity and power, prestige and popularity etc.
2. They were just caught up with the Law, with miracles and wonders, with the provision of manna and water in the desert by Moses, etc. Jesus tries to clarify and elevate their vision from law TO the person of Jesus, from the heartless observance of the law TO a hearty surrender to God’s will, from manna and water TO Jesus, the eternal food and living water, from awe-evoking wonders TO the significative signs of the kingdom and triggers to faith.
3. But their stiff-neckedness, their uncircumcised heart, their jealousy, and their legalism in shallow spirituality, make them reject Jesus, and also reject Stephen, his ardent follower, subjecting him to a martyr’s death. But, Stephen, an elated spirit, does not hold the sin against them. Instead, he forgives them and pleads on their behalf, exactly like Jesus. Both in life and in death, he resembles Jesus.
4. Often, the crucial problem is not so much the rightness or wrongness of the means or acts. Rather it is the wrong and perverted targets and ends. So it is better that we do a serious check-up about our purposes and objectives. As the purpose and the end is, so the direction will be. As the objective and the target are, so the process will be. As the aim and the goal is, so the means will be.
Practice: Jesus is the bread of life and the water of life, and it is he alone who satiates the hunger and thirst. If so, why is it many who go hungry and thirsty without seeking him, in stubbornness and arrogance?
