ACTS 6:8-15

Stephen, filled with grace and power, was working great wonders and signs among the people. Certain members of the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen, Cyreneans, and Alexandrians, and people from Cilicia and Asia, came forward and debated with Stephen, but they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke. Then they instigated some men to say, "We have heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God." They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes, accosted him, seized him, and brought him before the Sanhedrin. They presented false witnesses who testified, "This man never stops saying things against this holy place and the law. For we have heard him claim that this Jesus the Nazorean will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us." All those who sat in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him and saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

JOHN 6:22-29

[After Jesus had fed the five thousand men, his disciples saw him walking on the sea.] The next day, the crowd that remained across the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not gone along with his disciples in the boat, but only his disciples had left. Other boats came from Tiberias near the place where they had eaten the bread when the Lord gave thanks. When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. And when they found him across the sea they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?" Jesus answered them and said, "Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal." So they said to him, "What can we do to accomplish the works of God?" Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent."

Why do we go to Jesus? Are we looking for material benefits? Today’s crowd in the Gospel are so much like us. Some of them are simply satisfied with a bit of bread. Sometimes we, too, are satisfied with mere material benefit. Others are attached to the work that they could do. Sometimes we readily put all of our trust in what we can do. It is important in prayer, and in all the aspects of our relationship with Christ, that we recognize one very important truth, namely that our faith depends first and foremost on the great things that God has done for us.

God has loved us first. Therefore, we should not first ask what we must do in order to be doing the works of God, but rather contemplate the great works that God has done for us, and then, in gratitude, go out of our way to give our best in the service of God and people. God clearly tells us what he wants. It is very simple. “Believe in the one He sent.”

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Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayers and for those who need our prayers the most.

Have a good day!

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