3rd Week of Easter, Wednesday, April 21
Acts 8:1-8 / John 6:35-40
Jesus speaks about eternal life; "Whoever believes in me will have eternal life. "
When Werner von Braun died, Time magazine called him the 20th-century Columbus. Before he died, von Braun gave this testimony concerning life after death:
"I think science has a real surprise for the sceptics …. Nothing in nature, not even the tiniest particle, can disappear without a trace. Nature does not know extinction. All it knows is transformation…"Everything science has taught me — and continues to teach me— strengthens my belief in the continuity of our spiritual existence after death."***
How firmly
do we believe in Jesus' promise of eternal life? "If seeds in the black
earth can turn into such beautiful roses, what might the heart of man become in
its long journey to the stars?" Gilbert Keith Chesterton
***
With the
death of Stephen, a persecution started in Jerusalem. Christians had to flee.
God wanted them to be seeds driven by the wind. They had to bring the Christian
message to the holy land, to Samaria and Judaea. "Those who escaped went
from place to place to spread the Good News" (verse 4). Those who had to
flee were especially the Hellenists. The Hebrews, to whom belonged the twelve
Apostles, could remain. They were frequent visitors of the temple. The
Hellenists, who were not so rooted in a place, had greater mobility. They were
more fit to become missionaries. Philip, the deacon, and a companion of
Stephen's, went to Samaria. "The people united in welcoming the message
Philip preached" (verse 6). They heard it or had seen the miracles Philip
had worked. There was great rejoicing in that town as a result.
***
The fervor of the young Church is so contagious, that
even in persecution Christians use the occasion of the persecution itself to
preach the risen Christ. Indeed, God does not abandon the Church, even in
moments of trial. The reading from Acts says that there was even great joy over
the signs of the Lord’s presence. There is also a great joy in the Gospel where
we hear Jesus says that he is our bread of life: not only will he later give
himself as bread to eat, but his word and message are for us real bread of
life, something to live by and to live for.
***
In the
Lord’s Prayer we pray: “Give us this day our daily bread.” What exactly are we
praying for? What is this “daily bread”? This particular word epiousios (rendered
as “daily”) does not occur anywhere else in the New Testament, and thus has a
unique reference. In one sense, we are praying for our many material needs, the
bread that sustains our physical life. But from yesterday’s gospel reading we
know that Jesus wants us to labor for the bread that feeds our soul. Thus, over
and above the physical “bread” that meets our physical needs, Jesus wants us to
pray for the “daily bread” that sustains our spiritual life. And what is this
bread? He tells us today: “I am the bread of life.” Anyone who receives him as
his or her daily bread will never be hungry or thirsty. How do we receive him
as the bread of life? We do, in the word of God and in the Eucharist that is
the sacrament of sacraments. Ideally, we must receive this daily bread on a
daily basis—see the double emphasis in the prayer: “Give us this day our daily
bread.” How regular is my feeding on the Word and the Eucharist?
***
If we can
remember the beginning lines of the novel "A tale of two cities"
(Charles Dickens), it goes like this: "It was the best of times, it was
the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it
was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of
Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the
winter of despair…
That passage makes marked use of anaphora, the repetition of a phrase at the
beginning of consecutive clauses—for example, “it was the age . . . it was the
age” and “it was the epoch . . . it was the epoch. . . .” This technique, along
with the passage’s steady rhythm, suggests that good and evil, wisdom and
folly, and light and darkness stand equally matched in their struggle. And that
is also a reflection of life and its cycles of good and evil, wisdom and folly,
light and darkness, etc.
We have just
celebrated the Resurrection. It was a time of light and joy. But following
that, as we heard in the 1st reading, was a time of evil and darkness that
began with the martyrdom of Stephen and then a bitter persecution started
against the Church.
But even in the midst of that time of evil and darkness, there were little
lights that flickered and showed that the darkness cannot overcome the light.
Also it is interesting to note that there is a unit of measurement for light
(lux or lumen) but none for darkness.
One of those lights was Philip who went to a Samaritan town and proclaimed the
Good News of Christ to them, and there was great rejoicing in that town.
The light that we have received at our Baptism needs to be nourished by Jesus, the Bread of Life so that just like a candle whose light is fuelled by the wax, the light of our faith can continue to burn when we are nourished by the Bread of life.
Then even in the best of times or worst of times, whether in wisdom or foolishness, whether in belief or incredulity, whether in hope or despair, our light will continue to shine through the darkness.
***
Prayer : God, our Father, you are our faithful God, even in days of trial for the Church and for each of us personally; you stay by our side, even if we are not aware of your presence. Give us an unlimited trust in you and make us ever more aware that your Son Jesus is the meaning of our lives and that he nourishes us with himself, today and every day, forever. Amen
