Today, together with you, I want to pray to help us live this Sunday well and make progress in our conversion and journey of holiness. Sunday is the Lord’s day, the day when He urges us to devote ourselves, body and soul, to things that endure, not just to those that fade away. This message, which Jesus introduces throughout the Church’s liturgy, follows the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves, which occurred thanks to the offering of a young boy with only five loaves and two fish. This offering represents the poverty of our lives, which, when placed in God’s hands, can satisfy everyone’s needs and fill that hunger and thirst for God present in every person, even those who do not believe.
The people who had witnessed this miracle were seeking Jesus, but they had not understood its deeper meaning, focusing only on God’s ability to satisfy earthly hunger. Jesus tells them that they seek Him not because they saw signs, but because they ate and were satisfied. Man often fails to recognize God’s love in His works, a love that also helps us with earthly things like food, work, and relationships. However, the true food that God gives us is that which nourishes our relationship with Him, the bread of God, which is Jesus Himself, sent by the Father to give us eternal life.
Jesus exhorts us not to focus only on the food that perishes, like ordinary food, work, and relationships, but on that which lasts for eternal life. Earthly things, though beautiful, do not fully satisfy us and always leave us searching for more. Only the food that Jesus offers can give us true satisfaction and peace.
When people ask Jesus what they must do to obtain all this, He replies that the work of God is to believe in the one He has sent. Accepting Jesus with all our heart, mind, and body, loving Him above all else and loving our neighbor in Christ. Faith in God, who provides for everything, is fundamental. The most important thing that God offers us is eternal life, for which we must fight with all our strength.
Jesus promises that whoever believes in Him will never hunger or thirst again, experiencing a peace that only He can give. We must be grateful to God for this gift, which we receive through the Church. If we are believers but not practicing, we deceive ourselves. Jesus chose the Church as the way to meet us, and we cannot neglect it. We must participate in the life of the Church, despite human inconsistencies, because it is there that we meet the Lord.
Jesus assures us that whoever believes in Him will never hunger or thirst again, and that only He can quench the restlessness we often feel.
Let us pray together: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Spirit of Holiness, make us holy, soon holy, and great saints. Have a good Sunday!