“Doing the work of God!”
Dear Family of Mary!
This is the Gospel for today! Jesus teaches us what not to do when we see a miracle!!
[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.” (John 6:22-29)
The huge crowd of people who had been fed with only a few loaves and fishes were very excited to discover where Jesus went during the night. They knew he didn’t get in the boat with the apostles. They were watching carefully for Jesus. But when they realized he wasn’t there, they decided to cross the water to find the apostles and figure this out!
They suspected that Jesus was up to something, maybe another miracle. When they got to the other side and found Jesus, they began to question Him on how He got there. But Jesus was not about to play games with them. “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.” The people were thinking only about temporal realities, food! Jesus was not doing miracles for temporal power. He was trying to heal their souls and turn their eyes towards eternity.
“Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you!” Jesus was trying to get them to see the real food they needed, the food of salvation and eternal life. How often do we work for food that perishes? It is so easy to only think of our life in terms of this world. So they ask again, “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?”
“This is the work of God, that you believe in the one He sent.”
Our job is very simple. We must stop trying to figure out how Jesus does what He does. We must set aside our hope for temporal power. Jesus is not with us to make us rich in this world. He is with us to give us eternal life with Him in Heaven. And our only task is to believe in Him, with all our might. To believe that the Father has sent Him to us to give us eternal life.
Believe in the one He sent! Never stop believing in Jesus. Stand in that belief! It will take all our strength in these days to hold on to our belief! Work at it!! Work!!! Believe!!
Our Lady told us:
“Dear children, today, on this day of grace, in a special way I am calling you to open your hearts and to implore Jesus to strengthen your faith. Children, through prayer with the heart, faith and works you will come to know what it means to live a sincere Christian life. Often times, children, darkness, pain and crosses overwhelm your hearts. Do not waver in faith and ask ‘why’ because you think that you are alone and abandoned. Instead, open your hearts, pray and believe firmly and then your heart will feel God’s nearness and that God never abandons you – that He is beside you at every moment. Through prayer and faith, God will answer your every ‘why’ and transform your every pain, darkness and cross into light. Thank you.” (December 25, 2019, Jakov)
Our Lady is our best example of doing the work of God. She never wavered in her belief, never once. We see her greatest act of faith under the cross of her Son. She will help us to do the work of God in our lives. She will strengthen our faith when we need her help. Now, as never before, God needs believers here on earth. Our job is to believe for all those who do not believe. Let’s do the work of God!
In Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
P.S. Thank you to all who have donated towards our “Fiber Optic Internet Project” that we announced on Wednesday! We are in awe at how quickly and generously you shipmates have responded!! As we said on Wednesday during the Rosary, we need to provide a Fiber Optic internet connection to our main channel server in Texas. It will cost about $45,000!!! But we have faith that Our Lady wants this connection, so that Mary TV will have a strong link to the world for the days ahead. You can donate on our website using the “Donate” link at the top right hand side of the page. Thank you so much!!!!
