People of the Light - the choice!

WORD 2day: Saturday, Third week in the Eastertide

April 20, 2024 - Acts 9: 1-20; John 6: 52-59

People of the light are drawn by God and they are transformed - the Word highlighted this to us, the past two days. If they are drawn and transformed, they should show some sign of it. And the sign is their choice, their absolute, unswerving choice, for God and for a life in God. If it were Paul yesterday, it is Peter today, presented to us by the Liturgy of the Word, soliciting our attention on the aspect of choosing God to truly belong to God.

Peter's statement in the Gospel today: "Lord, who shall we go to?", is an expression of such a choice, a choice of absolute nature. Even if everyone else leaves you, we shall not, because you mean much more than anything or anyone else. This absolute choice is highly demanding. It can destroy everything else that one could think of as a source of meaning or basis of sense in life. Peter, Paul, and every other messenger chosen by God, drawn by God and transformed by the Message, is a living illustration of this choice.

What happens when that choice is concretised? Aeneas and Tabitha stand witnesses to the effect that can be  seen. Just as Jesus said - the one who believes in me shall accomplish all I do, and even more than that. We see a stark resemblance in the narration of these signs accomplished by Peter, to those that we can see in the Gospel where Jesus said to the crippled: pick up your mat and walk (Jn 5:8), and to the little girl: talitha koum (Mk 5:41). 

The key is the choice! The people of the Light are those who have chosen God, God's Son, God's Message above everything else in life. If we are among those, we shall certainly see the signs of it in our life. Let our words today, from our hearts be: Lord to whom shall we go, you have the Words of eternal life, and we believe in you. You have chosen us; and we wish to choose you above all.