Saturday of the 3rd Week of Eastertide
Acts 9:31-42
Jn 6:60-69
“…no one can come to me unless the Father allows him.”
This passage used to trouble me often. To me, it meant that not everyone could or would be redeemed.
While I’m not a child, I still hold this child-like perception of Heaven. I believe that Heaven is a state of one-ness with God. The belief is all of us will die and join God, just that not all of us will have the one-ness with Him. Almost like a good vs naughty child and the mother of both. Knowing he has done something incorrect, the child would shy away from his mother’s eye. While the good child can look lovingly at his mother’s eyes and embrace the moment – that’s heaven to me.
So, the lessons I eventually learnt from this passage was that Our Heavenly Father is there with his love and His promise of redemption, but we must be open and willing to live lives worthy of His redemption. To fall and yet pick ourselves up again and again, as we continuously strive towards our destination in heaven.
Peter, despite being a fisherman, knew that Jesus was the Christ and maybe having given up his trade, had little options; but he chooses to stay the course. Yet, after the death of Jesus, Peter and his companions went back to the only thing they knew – fishing. Fishing was Peter’s livelihood before he met Jesus – his ‘Bread’.
I begin to realize how often I forget the finality of seeking heavenly Bread and compromise and seek earthly bread instead – material wants, allowing sins to creep in.
If I was to parallel this with my life, I don’t need to give up my profession but my sins of pride and envy, of sloth and greed, again and again in my journey. Knowing that the ONLY course to redemption is through Jesus. I know I will keep failing, but the most important thing is to keep picking myself up. Jesus’ invitation is always available and open, stubborn me needs to realize this and accept his invitation back again.
There have been many times where I have distanced myself from Jesus because I don’t get the ‘bread’ I desire or simply because I fall into sin; yet I now know that these are the very times I need to reach out to Him and talk to Him. Perhaps even question Him or simply sit in His presence and allow Him to wrap me in His love and light.
All my life, no matter how difficult the course was, I have turned my back on Jesus – never Him on me!
(Today’s OXYGEN by Gerard Francis)
Prayer: We pray that we continuously keep close to God in our journey through life.
Thanksgiving: We give thanks for the gift of our faith.
OXYGEN 
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