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Labour for the food…

THE WORD BECAME FLESH

Monday of third week of Easter, 2021

Acts 6:8-15

Ps 119

John 6: 22-29

Labour for the food…

Dear friends in Christ, the journey of life presents us with so many challenges. On a daily basis we have to struggle to make ends meet. In the midst of the struggle, the society is re-inventing itself everyday and creating more avenues for us to spend money. For that reason there is always one more reason to want to earn more than we have already; to work harder to be more comfortable, to get our kids into more expensive schools, to have enough and some to spare in everything. When will it ever be enough?

Our gospel passage today is from John 6:22-29. This episode is a follow-up to the miracle of the multiplication of loaves. Jesus had fed a crowd of about five thousand men, with five loaves and two fish. They even made the attempt to make him king—a situation which would have put him in direct conflict with the authorities immediately. He escaped into the hills. He then followed his disciples, walking on the sea, while they were battling with the wind and calmed the sea for them, leading them safely to the shore. This crowd will however not leave him alone. They came back looking for him, looking for more bread to eat—free food was all they wanted. If he had accepted the offer to become king, there would have been no need to work anymore— breakfast, lunch and dinner would have been served at the palace daily. When they couldn't find him at the location where he had worked the miracle, they came to Capernaum in search of him, and they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly I say to you, you seek me, not because you have seen the signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labour for the food that perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on him has God the Father set his seal.” They were looking for food, to fill their stomach, but Jesus offers the food of eternal life in the word of God that is spoken to them and in the Eucharistic meal which he offers, the two depend on faith in him.

Examine yourself too. What are you working for? All your struggle here on earth will come to nothing, unless you balance it with what endures to eternal life. You need Jesus in your life to truly make the best out of this life. ‘What does it benefit a man, if he gains the whole world and suffers the loss of his soul’—absolutely nothing! The lockdown period as a result of Covid-19 should teach us that lesson clearly—all our luxuries are not beneficial when you’re not going anywhere. This looks like a foretaste of what will happen with death. This is a good time to make the effort to return to God and to moderate your ways in everything you do, in line with the word of God.

Let us pray: Lord, grant us the grace to work always for that which endures to eternal life, for the salvation of our souls. Amen.

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