Reading and meditation on the Word of God on Monday of the third week of Easter, April 20th, 2026

Delivered by Lukita Nanda and Svara Nirmala from the Parish of Our Lady of Assumption Mamajang in the Archdiocese of Makassar, Indonesia. Acts of the Apostles 6: 8-15; Rs psalm 119: 23-24.26-27.29-30; John 6: 22-29.THE FIRST WORK OF GOD The theme for our meditation today is: The First Workof God. This sentence does not mean to show the work that God is doing up therein heaven. What is meant by it, is the divine command or the will of God thatwe humans must do in the first place. When thousands of people who had beensatisfied with the food after the miracle of the multiplication of bread andkept looking for Jesus only to fulfill their bodily needs, they were thenreprimanded by Jesus because of their foolishness. According to the Lord, they should come to Him andchoose the first thing from Him, which was His work, and not the food. This isthe divine wisdom that teaches us to do the work in the first place if we wantto earn food for a living. The first work in this sense is to believe in Godand to entrust our entire lives in the hands of the Father who sent JesusChrist into the world to be our Redeemer. Through this filial act to theFather, the first food we obtain is His own Word that already became human likeus, namely Jesus Christ of Nazareth. This first work was already performed by all thosepeople shown in the scriptures. It starts with Jesus Christ Himself whotestified that He came to do the will of the Father who sent Him. The VirginMary and St. Joseph had focused their lives to fulfill the plan of salvation.The apostles who in the beginning seemed at a lost about their following ofJesus, yet they finally proved themselves to be the genuine messengers of theGospel. Abraham is known as the father of the believers. Moses is famous forthe law instituted for the people of God and the prophets had the high qualityof their faith to lead and renew the people's hearts. Our today's profile of faithful and genuine servant ofGod is Stephen, a disciple of the Lord and a witness of Christ's resurrection.He was filled with the grace and power of the Almighty God as a sign of thequality of his faith. He dared to face the challenges of the Jews who opposedhim. Through this work, the first food consumed by Stephen was to drink the cupof suffering just like what Jesus Christ experienced. Following Christ is our basic vocation, which must befulfilled with the first work of faith and filial devotion to God. The reasonfor our baptism and inclusion in the Church is faith, and not things, goods,position, world enjoyment or good name. It is only after baptism that othersacraments received or performed. Prayers, devotion and various services in theChurch are strongly supported by this foundation of faith. The virtue of faithand obedience are the first criteria for the official process of making abeliever saint by the Holy Church. So our first work from God is of thespiritual, and not the physical one. You will be happy or not as the followerof Christ, the measure that can qualify you is your faith in God, lived out orpracticed daily with good will. Let'spray. In the name of the Father ... O Jesus Christ, our good and wise Teacher.Teach us and show us how to be perfect through the faith and devotion that wepractice everyday. Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit... In the name of the Father ...