What is God’s will: 3rd Monday of Easter

“What shall we do to work the works that God wants?” (Jn 6:28). This is the question the crowds asked Jesus, but it is our question too. We want to know what God wants us to do. Fortunately for us, Jesus is very clear in today’s gospel, “You must believe in the one He has sent” (Jn 6:29).

We tend to believe that “working for God” is some kind of activity with expected results, something like what employers expect from their employees. Employers certainly are more concerned with their employees’ performance than with their employees’ faith. Sometimes we even project this “activism” within the church’s territory and we label people as Sunday-Catholics if they are not “active in the church”. In fact, few of us would consider “just believing” as a kind of work.

However, believing is not only a work, but the primordial work from which all other work should spring. Working for God is not measured in terms of feverish activities or results. It is measured in terms of faith and fidelity.

But Jesus is asking for a particular kind of faith, the faith that believes that Jesus Christ is God’s work. God’s ultimate activity is sending His Son. Our ultimate activity is to believe that it is true and to be consistent with that belief.