Monday of the 3rd week of Eastertide
First Reading — Acts 6:8-15
They could not get the better of Stephen because the Spirit prompted what he said
Stephen was filled with grace and power and began to work miracles and great signs among the people. But then certain people came forward to debate with Stephen, some from Cyrene and Alexandria who were members of the synagogue called the Synagogue of Freedmen, and others from Cilicia and Asia. They found they could not get the better of him because of his wisdom, and because it was the Spirit that prompted what he said. So they procured some men to say, “We heard him using blasphemous language against Moses and against God.” Having in this way turned the people against him as well as the elders and scribes, they took Stephen by surprise, and arrested him and brought him before the Sanhedrin. There they put up false witnesses to say, “This man is always making speeches against this Holy Place and the Law. We have heard him say that Jesus the Nazarene is going to destroy this Place and alter the traditions that Moses handed down to us.” The members of the Sanhedrin all looked intently at Stephen, and his face appeared to them like the face of an angel.
Responsorial Psalm — Psalm 118(119):23-24,26-27,29-30
Though princes sit plotting against me
I ponder on your statutes.
Your will is my delight;
your statutes are my counsellors.
I declared my ways and you answered;
teach me your statutes.
Make me grasp the way of your precepts
and I will muse on your wonders.
Keep me from the way of error
and teach me your law.
I have chosen the way of truth
with your decrees before me.
Gospel Acclamation — Matthew 4:4
Alleluia, alleluia!
No one lives on bread alone,
but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Alleluia!
Gospel — John 6:22-29
Do not work for food that cannot last, but for food that endures to eternal life
After Jesus had fed the five thousand, his disciples saw him walking on the water. Next day, the crowd that had stayed on the other side saw that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not got into the boat with his disciples, but that the disciples had set off by themselves. Other boats, however, had put in from Tiberias, near the place where the bread had been eaten. When the people saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into those boats and crossed to Capernaum to look for Jesus. When they found him on the other side, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?”
Jesus answered:
“I tell you most solemnly,
you are not looking for me because you have seen the signs
but because you had all the bread you wanted to eat.
Do not work for food that cannot last,
but work for food that endures to eternal life,
the kind of food the Son of Man is offering you,
for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal.”
Then they said to him, “What must we do if we are to do the works that God wants?” Jesus gave them this answer, “This is working for God: you must believe in the one he has sent.”
Reflection
Today’s readings place before us two essential themes of Christian discipleship: steadfastness under opposition and hunger for what truly lasts. In the First Reading, Stephen appears as a man entirely seized by grace. He is not merely intelligent or persuasive. Scripture says he is filled with grace and power, and that his wisdom is Spirit-prompted. This matters. Christian witness is not first a matter of argument technique, personal force, or cleverness. It is the fruit of a life surrendered to the Holy Spirit.
Stephen’s opponents cannot prevail against the truth of what he says, so they turn instead to distortion, accusation, and false witness. This is a pattern as old as sin itself. When truth cannot be overcome honestly, it is often attacked through manipulation. Yet Stephen does not collapse under this hostility. At the end of the passage, his face appears like that of an angel. Even in trial, there is a serenity about him. There is already a hint that the life of Christ is shining through him. This reflects a profound Christian reality: holiness does not merely help a person endure suffering; it transfigures the way suffering is borne.
The Catechism reminds us that martyrdom is the supreme witness given to the truth of the faith, bearing witness even unto death (CCC 2473). Stephen is not yet killed in today’s reading, but he is already walking that path. He stands in the line of prophets, apostles, and saints who remain faithful when the cost becomes real. His witness also shows that the Holy Spirit strengthens believers to confess Christ before others, especially in moments of persecution and testing (CCC 683, 688). Stephen does not defend a private opinion. He bears public witness to the risen Lord.
The Psalm fits beautifully with this. While princes plot, the faithful one ponders the statutes of the Lord. God’s word becomes delight, counsel, and protection from error. This is not sentimental devotion. It is spiritual survival. The heart that is grounded in God’s truth is not easily carried away by fear, pressure, or deceit. The Psalm shows us that fidelity is sustained by ongoing immersion in the word of God. The soul needs divine truth not occasionally, but continually.
The Gospel then turns from opposition to appetite. The crowd searches for Jesus, but he exposes the shallowness of their pursuit. They seek him not because they have grasped the deeper meaning of the sign, but because they ate bread and were filled. They want benefit without conversion, satisfaction without surrender, gift without true faith. Jesus does not reject them, but he does correct them. He lifts their attention from passing food to the food that endures to eternal life.
This is one of the key movements in John 6. Jesus takes ordinary human hunger and uses it to reveal a greater hunger beneath it. Human beings naturally seek security, satisfaction, comfort, and provision. But if we stop there, we remain trapped in the level of what fades. Christ has come not simply to improve earthly life for a moment, but to bring eternal life. The Catechism teaches that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from God, and that our deepest vocation is communion with him (CCC 2835, 1718). Jesus is drawing the crowd, and us, from surface need into ultimate need.
The question they ask is revealing: “What must we do if we are to do the works that God wants?” It sounds sincere, but Jesus answers in a way that cuts through human self-reliance: “This is working for God: you must believe in the one he has sent.” At the centre of the Christian life is not first achievement, productivity, or religious performance, but faith. Not a vague spirituality, but belief in the Son sent by the Father. The foundational work is to receive Christ, trust Christ, and remain in Christ. This is why faith is both gift and response. The Catechism teaches that faith is first of all a personal adherence of man to God and, at the same time, a free assent to the whole truth that God has revealed (CCC 150).
Taken together, the readings show two different but connected distortions that disciples must resist. One is the temptation to retreat when opposition comes. The other is the temptation to seek Jesus only for temporary gain. Stephen resists the first by standing in Spirit-filled truth. Jesus challenges the second by exposing shallow motives and calling people into real faith. In both cases, the issue is depth. Are we rooted in God deeply enough to remain faithful when challenged? Do we seek Christ deeply enough to desire him above the gifts he gives?
There is also a Eucharistic undercurrent beginning to emerge in John 6. Jesus speaks of food that endures to eternal life, preparing hearts for the greater revelation still to come. He is not merely speaking in abstractions. He is leading the crowd towards the mystery of himself as the true bread from heaven. The Church hears these words in the light of the Eucharist, where Christ gives not merely nourishment for the body, but himself for the life of the world (CCC 1324, 1338). The deepest hunger of the human heart is answered not by possessions, success, or comfort, but by communion with the living God.
For us today, the call is clear. We must let the word of God shape our minds as it shaped Stephen’s courage. We must examine whether we seek Jesus for who he is or merely for what he can do for us. We must choose the way of truth over the way of error, and eternal nourishment over passing satisfaction. Eastertide keeps leading us to the risen Christ, who alone can sustain both witness and worship.
One line to carry today:
Do not live for what passes away, but stay rooted in Christ who gives enduring life.
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