The Gospel for Wednesday of the third week of Easter is taken from John 6:35, 40th verse. Jesus said to the crowds, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in Me will never thirst. But I told you that although you have seen me, you do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me. And I will not reject anyone who comes to me.

Because I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of the One who sent me. And this is the will of the One who sent me that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life. And I shall raise him on the last day. The Old Testament is filled with requirements, laws, regulations that if one followed them, they would receive a blessing from God. Now, as Jesus proclaims the New Testament, it’s clear that this is not something that you work for, that you try to earn.

It is something given. And you need to understand the greatness of this gift. You need to feel the power that it offers you in order to surrender to it and say yes, yes to the will of my Father the Jesus, the image, the truth, when I receive, will bring me to eternal life, to goodness, to love. Closing Prayer Father, we are filled with longings. We hunger for truth, we hunger for peace. We hunger for all those things that we believe will fill us and give us meaning and purpose.

Help us to believe that you are that source and that these are things we need to believe you can give us. And when we turn to you expecting that gift, we are in a perfect disposition to be filled with life, nourished, strengthened. And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.