CATHOLIC MEDITATION: Monday - 20 April, 2026. (3rd Week - Easter, Year A).

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:37]In the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. Amen. Greetings beloved of the lord. You are listening to catholic meditation. I am father blessed ambang.

[00:00:53]Today is Monday the 20th of April 2026, Monday of the 3 week of Easter church year A. Thanks for joining us. Today is the memorial of St. Marcelinus, Bishop.

[00:01:15]The Lord be with you. And with your spirit.

[00:01:20]Let us pray.

[00:01:23]Grant we pray almighty God that putting off our old self with all its ways we may live as Christ did. For through the healing pascal remedies you have conformed us to his nature who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit God forever and ever. Amen.

[00:01:46]The first reading is taken from the Acts of the Apostles chapter 6:es 8-15.

[00:01:53]The responsorial psalm is taken from Psalm 119.

[00:01:58]The response to the psalm is blessed are those who walk in the law of the Lord.

[00:02:06]The gospel is taken from St. John chapter 6 22- 29. and meditation is inspired by the gospel text.

[00:02:18]After 5,000 men had eaten the field, the disciples of Jesus saw him walking on the sea. On the next day, the people who remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone.

[00:02:43]However, boats from Tiberias came near the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks.

[00:02:50]So when the people saw that Jesus was not there nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum seeking Jesus.

[00:03:02]When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me not because you saw signs, but because you ate your field of the loaves.

[00:03:21]Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on him has God the Father set his seal."

[00:03:34]Then they said to him, "What must we do to be doing the works of God?

[00:03:40]Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God that you believe in him whom he has sent."

[00:03:48]The gospel of the Lord. Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:03:55]The theme for today's meditation is seek Jesus for the right reason.

[00:04:05]Seek Jesus for the right reason.

[00:04:11]Dearly beloved of the Lord, we have begun the series of the Gospel of St. John chapter 6.

[00:04:21]From Friday last week that is from the 18th of April till Saturday the 25th of April. The gospel text of the week days will be drawn from the gospel of John chapter 6 which is generally the discourse of Jesus on the bread of life.

[00:04:44]Today's episode happens immediately after the feeding of the 5000.

[00:04:50]Jesus multiplied the five loaves and two fish and fed the crowd of 5,000 men.

[00:04:59]In front of them, they saw this happen.

[00:05:02]They all ate and had the field and 12 baskets of scraps were collected.

[00:05:10]After feeding the crowd, Jesus's disciples entered the boat and left for Caperon.

[00:05:16]Later after dispersing the crowd, Jesus himself left for Capernaam.

[00:05:23]Before he reached where he was going, the people had already reached there arriving in boats going to look for him.

[00:05:32]As they knew where he was heading to when they found him, they said to Jesus, "Rabbi, when did you come here?"

[00:05:43]Jesus knows exactly why they are looking for him.

[00:05:46]One may see all the effort of entering the boats, searching for Jesus and think that they have a genuine reason. No, no.

[00:05:56]All that effort is simply because they want more food to eat. They are just coming from the multiplication of the loaves.

[00:06:05]So they rush after Jesus. They see him merely as a bread provider, not because he is the Messiah, not because his words bring eternal life.

[00:06:17]He tells them not to work for food that does not endure.

[00:06:22]This bread they seek Jesus for will finish and they will be hungry again.

[00:06:28]They must seek food that endures and that food is believing in him.

[00:06:35]Dear good people of God, we too should ask ourselves these questions.

[00:06:41]Why do we seek Jesus?

[00:06:45]Why do you go to church?

[00:06:48]Why are you a Christian?

[00:06:52]Our churches are filled up on Sundays and other worship days.

[00:06:57]There are approximately 8.3 billion people in the world. Of that population, approximately 2.6 billion are Christians, of whom 1.5 billion are Catholics.

[00:07:12]What do we seek Jesus for?

[00:07:15]For breakthrough, for miracles, for healing, for jobs, for a husband, a wife, or for children.

[00:07:27]We need beloved to rethink our reason for searching Jesus. We need to purify our intentions.

[00:07:36]Our intentions may not be pure. We go to church not because we seek Jesus as the savior. Not because we seek the words that will lead us to eternal life. But we may be seeking him like these Jews because of what we may gain from him.

[00:07:54]material things, things that do not endure. No wonder those churches are filled up. No wonder the Christians are many yet our world seems not to be changing. Because we may be seeking Jesus for the wrong reason. Doing the good deed yet for the wrong reason.

[00:08:16]Why do I want to become a priest?

[00:08:19]Why do I want to become a religious?

[00:08:22]What am I seeking?

[00:08:25]We need to purify once again, beloved, our intentions. If those intentions are not purified, we may simply be wasting our time going to church seeking Jesus because we are doing a good deed yet for the wrong reason.

[00:08:41]No wonder Christians go to church seeking breakthrough, miracles, healing, jobs, husbands, wives, children. No wonder they flock from church to church because they feel that this church has failed. So let us move to the next solution center. Jesus is not missing.

[00:09:00]He is the same yesterday, today and forever. And even if you are in your sitting room, if you have faith and believe in Jesus and seek him for the right reason, whatever you want, he will perform for you. You do not need to move from church to church. Catholic today, Pentecostal tomorrow, Pentecostal today, do me I do you tomorrow.

[00:09:25]The same Christians who seek miracles and breakthrough.

[00:09:29]The same Christians who want these things from Jesus yet cannot keep and do what that Jesus says. They cannot forgive. They do not love one another, not even their enemies. So what do we seek Jesus for?

[00:09:44]We may be seeking Jesus for the wrong reason.

[00:09:48]Jesus tells us to purify our intentions to have the right reasons for seeking him. First, we should seek Jesus to reciprocate the love that he has for us.

[00:10:02]We are still in Easter celebrating the great love that God has for us that he sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for us. Beloved, we should be seeking Jesus if we have faith that he is the Messiah first to reciprocate that love that he has shown us. So seek Jesus to love him in return. Love for love. He has loved us first. We seek him to reciprocate to love him in return. That should be the first reason for seeking Jesus. So I go to church. I am a Christian first to love God and to reciprocate his love for me. Whatever comes after is a commentary. Let me seek God to love him to reciprocate his love.

[00:10:48]And in the words of St. John, we cannot claim to love God when we hate our neighbors. We cannot claim to love God when we do not keep his commandments. So if truly I seek Jesus to reciprocate his love for me, I should be able to love my fellow brothers and sisters. I should be able to keep his commandments.

[00:11:08]Second, we should seek Jesus because we want to go to heaven. We believe that he is the Messiah. We believe that his words will give us eternal life. So, we go to church. We seek Jesus because truly we want to enter heaven. And if truly heaven is your goal, then you will do those things that will take you to heaven. You will love God. You will keep his commandments. You will forgive those who hurt you. You will love even your enemies. You will give water to the thirsty. Give food to the hungry. Clothe the naked. You will do these things that Jesus has told us to do. So once again, let us go back to that question. Why do you seek Jesus? If you seek him for this material things, then you need to purify your intention. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and every other thing will be granted unto thee. Let us seek Jesus. to love him in return to seek heaven and I tell you beloved whatever we ask of him will be granted to us purify your intention and seek Jesus for the right reasons today we celebrate the memorial of St. Marcelinus bishop with two fellow missionaries Vincent and Dominus. They left the native Africa in order to bring the faith to God. Now France so many people welcomed their preaching that soon it became necessary to establish a diosis in order to coordinate the missionary ministry.

[00:12:47]Marcelinus was named the first bishop of the diosis of emram on account of his missionary zeal and holiness. Later he suffered verbal and physical persecution from the aryans. He died in the year 374.

[00:13:03]We wish a happy feast day to all those who go by the name mascelinus and to institutions named after him. The lord be with you. May the blessing of Almighty God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit come down on you and remain with you forever. Amen.