Tuesday, May 7, 2019
3rd Week of Easter
1st Reading: Acts 7:51—8:1
Gospel: John 6:30-35
The people said to Jesus, “Show us miraculous signs, that we may see and believe you. What sign do you perform? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert; as Scripture says: They were given bread from heaven to eat.”
Jesus then said to them, “Truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven. My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. The bread God gives is the One who comes from heaven and gives life to the world.” And they said to him, “Give us this bread always.”
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall never be hungry, and whoever believes in me shall never be thirsty.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
When miracles are always available for the asking, faith withers away for lack of purpose. Where miracles are needed, it is best to leave it to God. When God sees fit to perform one, he does so according to his divine plan, not according to what we want. The following anecdote illustrates the point. A hungry man was praying for grains so he could cook something for a meal. Suddenly someone on board a truck dropped a sack at his front yard. He ran down believing it was the miracle he had prayed for. To his dismay, the sack contained seeds, not grains. “Didn’t I pray for grains?” he protested. God answered, “What are those seeds for, if not for planting so that you may have enough grains for a lifetime?” “But it hasn’t rained for months”, the man argued, “How can I possibly plant those seeds?” In answer God explained: “That’s where faith should be put to work!”
This anecdote takes us to the heart of today’s Gospel message. In asking Jesus for a miraculous sign, the Jews were expecting something as spectacular as the raining down of manna to their ancestors in the desert (Exodus 16). But Jesus offered himself instead as the Bread of Life. He said to them: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall never be hungry, and whoever believes in me shall never be thirsty.”
The Jews were disappointed. They were precisely asking for signs because they weren’t sure about his divine origins! One spectacular miracle would have sufficed but Jesus offered nothing but himself in answer to their demand for a sign. Still it begged the question about his divine origins. But that was where faith should have been put to work. They did not have faith.
Today, we continue to challenge God to perform miracles to prove he is still in control over our lives. But if God were to spoon-feed us with miracles tailored to our specifications, what do we need faith for? – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M.
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