Reading and meditation on the Word of God on Tuesday of the third week of Easter, May 6, 2025

Delivered by Evelyn from the Parish of the Holy Spirit in the Archdiocese of Singapore. Acts of the Apostles 7: 51 - 8: 1a; Rs psalm 31: 3cd-4.6ab.7b.8a.17.21ab; John 6: 30-35.ACCEPT ME, O LORD The title for our meditation today is:Accept Me, O Lord. There was a nun who gave a speech at the moment of herperpetual profession in the religious life. She began and ended her briefremarks with these following words: “Accept Me, O Lord”. The content of herspeech was about words of gratitude and request of prayers from all familiesand guests present. All were somewhat surprised because the speech lasted onlyabout two minutes. When people asked about the meaning ofthe phrase: “Accept Me, O Lord”, the nun replied that her whole life isdedicated to God and the Church. From the time of the perpetual profession, shehas promised to offer herself totally as a person consecrated. That means allthings related to work, service, disappointment, suffering, challenges andvarious other things are included in her personality, her whole being areligious nun. The nun's explanation gives us a lightto the reflection on our readings today. St. Stephen as the first martyr in theChurch, put his whole being a disciple of Jesus to be a special offering toGod. He was clever, talented, hardworking, and a defender of the faith. But hedid not make himself a powerful person with position, good works, achievements,and fame. He offered his entire life and that was all for his Master JesusChrist in whom he found rest and salvation of his soul. The Jews who were after praise andgood name insisted Jesus to know about his actual work and profession, then inresponding them he revealed his true identity with this expression: "I amthe bread of life". This bread is actually the food that the Jews and all peoplewho hope for salvation were looking for. Jesus wanted them not to bother aboutthe other things, but just recognized Him, trusted Him and stayed with Him.Here God wants to teach us that our views and treatments to one another in thisworld must be full and sincere, namely to love a person like God himself loves. All that is attached in every personsuch as good name, job, relationship, position, achievement, success and so onin the positive aspect; and failure, pain, loss, emptiness, loneliness, despairand so on in the negative aspects, will eventually terminate in this world whenwe die. What we carry on next to meet God is ourselves as the believers. Allthat are necessary to oulseves, and they help us to carry out the duties andworks according to each one’s respective calling. So the good news for us today is thatwe must see what is beautiful and precious in oneself and each of ourneighbours as a whole human person as the gift of God to us. Let's pray. In the name of theFather ... O good Lord, help us to always be in the way of Your Son JesusChrist, our Lord and Savior. Hail Mary full of grace. In the name of the Father...