Daily Gospel Reflection
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April 15, 2024
After Jesus had fed the five thousand men, his disciples saw him walking on the sea.
The next day, the crowd that remained across the sea
saw that there had been only one boat there,
and that Jesus had not gone along with his disciples in the boat,
but only his disciples had left.
Other boats came from Tiberias
near the place where they had eaten the bread
when the Lord gave thanks.
When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there,
they themselves got into boats
and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
And when they found him across the sea they said to him,
“Rabbi, when did you get here?”
Jesus answered them and said,
“Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me
not because you saw signs
but because you ate the loaves and were filled.
Do not work for food that perishes
but for the food that endures for eternal life,
which the Son of Man will give you.
For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.”
So they said to him,
“What can we do to accomplish the works of God?”
Jesus answered and said to them,
“This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”
Reflection
When I read today’s gospel, I vividly remember standing with my family on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, near the Church of the Multiplication, almost 15 years ago. I can imagine today’s scene in real time, as the crowds pursue Jesus after the multiplication of loaves and fishes, even going so far as to chase him across the Sea of Galilee in boats.
When they find him, they ask, “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?” Jesus responds that the work of God is to “believe in the one that he sent.” This answer at first struck me as somewhat odd. Belief in Christ is necessary, but can we count it as the work of God?
What about the other work that God asks of us—feeding the hungry, clothing the naked,
serving the poor?
Reflecting on this passage, St. Augustine observed that Jesus “didn’t say ‘that you should believe him,’ or that ‘that you should believe that he is the one,’ but ‘that you should believe in him.’” And, he continued, to believe in Christ is to love him.
When I think about it that way, I realize that belief in Christ is work, just as all love is work. How often do I let my worldly concerns—including, admittedly, my job—distract me from being fully present for the people that God has given me to love? And to admit that the distractions of the world sometimes lead me to neglect the work of loving those present in my daily life
is to admit that I also neglect, probably even more often, the work of loving Christ.
Today’s gospel is a reminder to attend to God’s work, the belief in—and love for—the Lord.
Prayer
Lord, we are often tempted to work for “food that perishes.” Too often, we take the easy road and the sure thing. We come to you today with open hands that we may be filled with the food that endures for eternal life. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Anastasia and a friend, Basilissa, were Roman noblewomen who were converted to the faith when they heard the preaching of Sts. Peter and Paul.
When Peter and Paul were killed, these two women removed their bodies at night and provided for their burial. The authorities discovered their actions, and they were arrested and thrown into prison. When they were brought before the court, they acknowledged their faith without fear and were martyred.
The relics of St. Anastasia rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on Notre Dame's campus.
St. Anastasia, you were the Roman martyr who was converted by Peter and Paul—pray for us!