Tuesday of the Third Week of Easter
In the Gospel, we see a crowd of people asking Jesus for a sign. They are thinking about the manna in the desert, bread that filled their ancestors’ stomachs for a day but left them hungry again the next. Jesus challenges them to look higher, offering Himself as the “Bread of Life” that satisfies the soul forever.
We see the power of this Bread in the story of St. Stephen. While the crowd in the Gospel is hungry for a physical miracle, the crowd in the Book of Acts is filled with rage, ready to stone St. Stephen to death. Yet, in the middle of this violence, St. Stephen is the one who seems truly at peace.
How could a man being killed be satisfied? It is because St. Stephen was fed by the Bread from Heaven. This Bread didn’t give him a full stomach or a way to escape his situation; it gave him the strength to face death with love. Because he was filled with the Holy Spirit and nourished by Christ, he didn’t hunger for revenge or thirst for safety.
Even as he was dying, St. Stephen was able to pray for the people hurting him, saying, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”
St. Stephen shows us what it really means to “never hunger.” When we are fed by Jesus, we receive a strength that the world cannot give. To eat the Bread of Life is to become like Jesus, someone who can love, forgive, and give of themselves, no matter what they are facing.
Reflection by Daniel, seminarian
Posted in Article for Easter, Daily Reflections