One Thing I Seek

April 20, 2012

Friday of the Second Week of Easter

By Melanie Rigney

… All day long, both at the temple and in their homes, (the apostles) did not stop teaching and proclaiming the Christ, Jesus. (Acts 5:42)

One thing I seek: to dwell in the house of the Lord. (Psalms 27:4)

When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip, "Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?" He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, "Two hundred days' wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little." One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?" (John 6:5-9)

PIETY
Lord, You are the Way and the Light. You are all I need.

STUDY
What do you want from God? World peace? A victory for your side in the presidential election? An end to global hunger? Enough money to keep the bill collectors at bay? A cure for cancer? A speedy recovery for an ailing friend?

Note that in today’s Gospel reading, it’s Jesus who asks the question: Where can we buy enough food for the crowd? We know it’s a rhetorical question, but the disciples didn’t. They busied themselves with hand-wringing and fretting about how much money it would cost and that even if they had the money, where would they find the food to buy.

And yet, their attitudes and worldviews have changed by the time of the Book of Acts. Nothing—not flogging, not being ordered to stop speaking of Jesus—can stop them from sharing the Word. They do it constantly, whether they’re at the temple or at home. By then, they know what they want—not the kind of food one buys with coins or that can be scarce, but to follow Christ. And when they seek that goal, they find confidence, strength, and joy. All the rest doesn’t matter. They stop fretting—and start evangelizing.

ACTION
The Arlington, Virginia, Cursillo movement’s 124th Men’s Weekend began last night at Missionhurst. As you go about your day, offer up this palanca for them: begin no sentences with “I wish” or “if only” unless the words that follow them are about finding a closer relationship with Christ.