It's More Than Just Bread and Water

Good Evening, dear reader. I'm a bit under the weather today, hence the lateness and brevity of my post.

Our reading today in Acts introduces us to Stephen. He had been chosen as one of the seven Peter appointed as deacons of Jesus's ministry. We can see that Stephen was filled with Holy Spirit and went about doing great things. This is not sitting well with some of the Jewish community (mainly a separate sect comprised of freed slaves and Jews from other lands). They feel that Stephen is blaspheming God and Moses. Now the people are already fired up because of Peter and John and their works. This just adds fuel to the already burning fire. But, since no one can really charge Stephen with anything that would remove him from their midst, these people start a smear campaign against Stephen. Of course, word of this gets back to the Sanhedrin. So, now, Stephen is dragged in front of the judges. But when they look at him, something very odd happens. Instead of seeing the physical form of Stephen, they see him as an angel, "All those who sat in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him and saw that his face was like the face of an angel." (v7) This can be interpreted as Stephen being filled with the Holy Spirit and will set the stage for his speech to the Sanhedrin (Ch. 7).

Today's reading in John has us back at the water's edge, where Jesus had appeared to His disciples, walking on the water. Word of this miracle has spread and more people arrive. But when they get there, neither Jesus nor His disciples were there. So they set out to Capernaum to see if He is there. Upon seeing Jesus, they need to play it cool "hey, when did you get here?!". But Jesus knows the whole story. They didn't come to just find Him. They wanted to be a part of the miraculous works. They wanted a party with Jesus. Jesus scolds them, saying "Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life" (v27). 

Jesus is reminding us to not focus on the things of this world. They do not last. We need to focus on being in and of Christ. We need to make Him the centre of all. If you have been fortunate to be blessed with abundance in this life, reach out to others and share that abundance. Live as the body of Christ. When you do that, not only are you sharing your faith, but you're also being a nice human. 😇

Father Bill's reflection on today's readings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GbXQe2WmnU

Seeing is Believing

Good Afternoon, dear reader! Today, we are again seeing the theme of words and deeds. If our words and deeds don't match up, then people feel no confidence in you. You absolutely need to "walk the walk and talk the talk". 

We see, in today's first reading, that the prophet Jeremiah is speaking out against those who have persecuted him. He is aware of the fact that his supposed friends are always waiting for him to make a mistake, to find some fault. He warns his detractors that God may come down to exact His revenge. Notice how he says MAY. That one little word will make them wonder. This is not a direct threat. It's more of a passive-aggressive statement. I believe that Jeremiah also phrased it this way because he knew that it was not up to him to judge or punish these people. God may come to punish.... or He may not... are you willing to risk it?! lol

When we look at todays Gospel, we see it is similar to our last few readings in this book. The Jews are mad, they think that Jesus is committing blasphemy for saying He is the Son of God or God incarnate. It seems no matter where Jesus goes, these people just don't understand. Jesus tries to tell them that it's fine if they don't want to believe His words, but look at the things He has done "If I do not perform my Father's works, do not believe Me; but if I perform them, even if you do not believe Me, believe the works" (Jn 10:37-38, NAB). This is clearly a case of seeing is believing. 

Once again, the Jews try to arrest Jesus, and once again He avoids it, as it is still not His time to be captured. After all this, Jesus decides to go to the river where John the Baptist baptised Him. He again encounters more people. They tell Jesus that even though John did not perform any sort of miracles, the things he said about Jesus were true, so this Jesus is the real thing. Again, a case of seeing is believing.

Sometimes it's hard trusting in people, especially if they say one thing and do something else. How can you actually believe what they say? We see this so much in the world today. Promises are made, rhetoric abounds. It is up to us to discern whether or not they will live up to the things they say. We need to decide based on reputation and past actions if they can be trusted. It's a sort of slippery slope. 

However, we as Christians know that faith comes from believing in what we cannot see. But, God gave us the ultimate sign that we CAN believe....the empty tomb. We know that God lived up to His word. We can believe all that was prophesied in the Old Testament, we saw it play out in the New Testament. We saw it played out on the cross. Because of this, we know that we can trust in everything God does and everything He promises us.

Be blessed, dear reader. And, as always.... be a nice human. 😇

Father Bill's reflection on today's readings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pixbZ_rJjJQ

"What Faith Can Do" Kutless https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1JBSQMkQEo