💖 HOMILY - APRIL 24 💖

First Reading - Acts 6:8-15

Gospel - John 6:22-29

Selfishness is a vice with which we all grabble everyday as Christians. We all are selfish and this is seen in our relationship with one another and sometimes in our relationship with God as well. The readings of today counsel us to overcome selfishness in relating to God.

The gospel passage gives us beautiful insights on the purpose of seeking Jesus. The crowd was intent on finding Jesus after they had witnessed a great miracle of the multiplication of bread. The purpose of the crowd, to seek and find Jesus, was moved by their mere material desire for easy access to food (selfish purpose) and not by the recognition of sign or belief in him after seeing the sign. Jesus redresses their mistaken purposes and misconceptions by inviting the crowd to believe in him as the one sent by God. Adding to it, Jesus exhorts that they must look for food that can endure eternally which he would give in his flesh and in his words; an exhortation of movement from material food to spiritual food that nourishes the soul.

The first reading throws light on, what happens when one believes in Jesus and is sustained by the spiritual food that Jesus provides. Stephen embodies an exemplary character in the first reading who was filled with the Holy Spirit and worked great signs in the name of Jesus. The actions of Stephen was opposed by many but none could overcome his wisdom and arguments because God's Spirit accompanied him in his every work and speech. 

Dear friends, we do seek Jesus in our lives through prayer. We need to clarify our purpose of seeking Jesus. We find that our seeking is also at times confined to material purposes or selfish purpose, such as - we see prayer as magical wand, thus we tend to think that we should approach God in prayer for our needs only, or when we are through difficulties, we approach God in prayer to overcome our difficulties. They are mere materialistic approach of ours to God. If our seeking is concerned about only gaining things, like the crowd looking for Jesus, then that is a mistaken purpose. Jesus advices us to move from material purpose to spiritual purpose to approach him. Let our occasions of prayers not be an occasion to seek material privileges but an occasion to relate to God intimately and rest other things will certainly follow. As Jesus himself says: "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you." (Matthew 6:33)

Those who seek Jesus with right purpose will withstand evey situation of their lives because they will be accompanied by the Holy Spirit. Stephen is an example for those who seek Jesus for spiritual purposes and believe in him as the saviour. The first reading reminds us that it's not easy to believe in Jesus and live accordingly, for challenges and difficulties will surely come, sometimes caused by others or due to the circumstances, but God's Spirit will strengthen us to withstand all situations in our lives courageously.

Let's pray that we may be able to seek Jesus with right and proper motives.