EASTERTIDE THIRD WEEK TUESDAY REFLECTION

TODAY'S WORD

By


Fr. Aloysius Santiago sdb
Rector and Parish Priest
Don Bosco Shrine
Lingarajapuram, Bangalore

John: 6:35 "Jesus said to them, “I am the Bread of Life. Whoever comes to Me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty."


FIRST READING 

REFLECTION

In this morning’s first reading, Stephen is stoned to death by those who found his preaching offensive. 

Luke who wrote the Acts of the Apostles portrays Stephen’s way of dying in a manner that would call to mind how Jesus died. 

As Jesus on the cross prayed, ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit’, Stephen prays to the risen Jesus, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit’. 

As Jesus on the cross prayed, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing’, Stephen prays to the risen Jesus, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them’. 

In other words, Luke presents Stephen as having the same relationship with Jesus that Jesus has with his heavenly Father. 

We are all called to have the same relationship with Jesus that Jesus has with his Father. 

Jesus’ intimate relationship with God his Father is to be the model of our relationship with Jesus. 


GOSPEL REFLECTION

In the gospel reading this morning from the gospel of John, Jesus invites us into this intimate relationship with himself. 

He offers himself to us as the bread of life and calls on us to come to him, to believe in him, so that our deepest hunger will be satisfied and our deepest thirst quenched. 

We spend our lives responding to this invitation. 

The coming to him that believing in him involves is a constant coming; it is the journey of a lifetime, a journey into an ever deeper and more intimate relationship with the Lord. 

A little on in John’s gospel Jesus expresses the nature of this journey in another form when he calls on us to abide in his love, just as he abides in his Father’s love.


RESOLUTION

Let's resolve like Stephen know who to turn to and what to let go of in order to have a peaceful death.

May we think often about the final moments of our life on earth, so that we too will do what Stephen did.


Have an awesome Day

Abide in Christ's love.