20260503 THE CORNERSTONE OF OUR FAITH AND LIFE
3 May 2026, Sunday, 5th Week of Easter
First reading | Acts 6:1-7 |
They elected seven men full of the Holy Spirit
About this time, when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenists made a complaint against the Hebrews: in the daily distribution their own widows were being overlooked. So the Twelve called a full meeting of the disciples and addressed them, ‘It would not be right for us to neglect the word of God so as to give out food; you, brothers, must select from among yourselves seven men of good reputation, filled with the Spirit and with wisdom; we will hand over this duty to them, and continue to devote ourselves to prayer and to the service of the word.’ The whole assembly approved of this proposal and elected Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus of Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
The word of the Lord continued to spread: the number of disciples in Jerusalem was greatly increased, and a large group of priests made their submission to the faith.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 32(33):1-2,4-5,18-19 |
May your love be upon us, O Lord, as we place all our hope in you.
or
Alleluia!
Ring out your joy to the Lord, O you just;
for praise is fitting for loyal hearts.
Give thanks to the Lord upon the harp,
with a ten-stringed lute sing him songs.
May your love be upon us, O Lord, as we place all our hope in you.
or
Alleluia!
For the word of the Lord is faithful
and all his works to be trusted.
The Lord loves justice and right
and fills the earth with his love.
May your love be upon us, O Lord, as we place all our hope in you.
or
Alleluia!
The Lord looks on those who revere him,
on those who hope in his love,
to rescue their souls from death,
to keep them alive in famine.
May your love be upon us, O Lord, as we place all our hope in you.
or
Alleluia!
Second reading | 1 Peter 2:4-9 |
Christ is the living stone, chosen by God and precious to him
The Lord is the living stone, rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him; set yourselves close to him so that you too, the holy priesthood that offers the spiritual sacrifices which Jesus Christ has made acceptable to God, may be living stones making a spiritual house. As scripture says: See how I lay in Zion a precious cornerstone that I have chosen and the man who rests his trust on it will not be disappointed. That means that for you who are believers, it is precious; but for unbelievers, the stone rejected by the builders has proved to be the keystone, a stone to stumble over, a rock to bring men down. They stumble over it because they do not believe in the word; it was the fate in store for them.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people set apart to sing the praises of God who called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.
Gospel Acclamation | Jn14:6 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Jesus said: ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.
No one can come to the Father except through me.’
Alleluia!
Gospel | John 14:1-12 |
I am the Way, the Truth and the Life
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘Do not let your hearts be troubled.
Trust in God still, and trust in me.
There are many rooms in my Father’s house;
if there were not, I should have told you.
I am going now to prepare a place for you,
and after I have gone and prepared you a place,
I shall return to take you with me;
so that where I am
you may be too.
You know the way to the place where I am going.’
Thomas said, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’ Jesus said:
‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.
No one can come to the Father except through me.
If you know me, you know my Father too.
From this moment you know him and have seen him.’
Philip said, ‘Lord, let us see the Father and then we shall be satisfied.’ ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip,’ said Jesus to him ‘and you still do not know me?
‘To have seen me is to have seen the Father,
so how can you say, “Let us see the Father”?
Do you not believe
that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?
The words I say to you I do not speak as from myself:
it is the Father, living in me, who is doing this work.
You must believe me when I say
that I am in the Father and the Father is in me;
believe it on the evidence of this work, if for no other reason.
I tell you most solemnly,
whoever believes in me
will perform the same works as I do myself,
he will perform even greater works,
because I am going to the Father.’
THE CORNERSTONE OF OUR FAITH AND LIFE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Acts 6:1-7; Ps 33:1-2, 4-5, 18-19; 1 Pet 2:4-9; Jn 14:1-12]
Where do we find the wisdom and strength to build our family, our personal life, our career, or even our church and community service? The truth is that although we are Catholics, many of us do not build our foundation on Christ. We only pay lip service when it comes to our relationship with the Lord. Too often, we rely on ourselves, as well as on social media and the internet, to guide us on how we should live our lives, what we should seek in order to find happiness, and what values we should adopt values for our children, our families, and society. There is a real dichotomy between faith and life. For many, faith is an add-on or an extension to help us in life, like software installed into a main program to add new features and improve performance. But an add-on is not fundamental; it is only something useful to enhance our lives.
But that was never the case for the Christians in the early Church. From the very beginning, they knew that their foundation must be rooted in Christ. This explains why the apostles were worried and troubled when the Lord told them that He was going away. “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” And what made it even worse was the Lord’s reply to Peter after the Last Supper, “Will you lay down your life for me? Very truly, I tell you, before the cock crows, you will have denied me three times” when Peter presumptuously said, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” (Jn 13:37f) If Peter could not follow Jesus or even die for Him, what about the rest of them?
But Jesus assured them that He would be with them even more after He returns to the Father. “Trust in God still, and trust in me. There are many rooms in my Father’s house; if there were not, I should have told you. I am going now to prepare a place for you, and after I have gone and prepared you a place, I shall return to take you with me; so that where I am you may be too.” Indeed, Jesus will come again to be in our hearts in the Holy Spirit. The room that Jesus is preparing for us is our heart. Whenever our hearts are ready, He will come to live with us and in us, in the Holy Spirit. What will the Holy Spirit do if not to make the Risen Lord present in our lives?
So when Thomas asked, “Lord, we do not know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you know me, you know my Father too. From this moment you know him and have seen him.” Jesus is the way to the Father. He is the Way to the Truth that leads to everlasting life. To see the Lord Jesus is to see the Father. That is why the Lord said to the apostles, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak as from myself: it is the Father, living in me, who is doing this work. You must believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; believe it on the evidence of this work, if for no other reason. I tell you most solemnly, whoever believes in me will perform the same works as I do myself, he will perform even greater works, because I am going to the Father.”
Jesus is the foundation of our lives because He reveals and leads the way to our ultimate destination, which is to return to the Father. Before Jesus began to wash the feet of His disciples, the Evangelist, John, said, “Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” (Jn 13:1) Jesus was clear of His goal in life, which was to bring all of us with Him to the Father. In His priestly prayer, which is like His final will, He said to the Father, “Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (Jn 17:24-26) Truly, Jesus is going to bring us into His Father’s house where there is perfect love, joy, peace and happiness, and where all of us will live as one big family of God, loving and caring for each other.
This should be the goal of every person in this life – that even now we seek to create a foretaste of what is to come, beginning with our own families. If we do not start with our own family, our church ministry, our church community, our colleagues, and our friends, what hope do we have of achieving this goal, or making it present to others? The Lord has chosen us to make Him known so that others may come to share the love of our Father. Earlier, He gave the disciples a new commandment, “that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Jn 13:34f) Indeed, love and humble service must begin wherever we are, starting with our families and the communities to which we belong.
In today’s First Reading, seven men were chosen to help to bring unity to the Christian community because “when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenists made a complaint against the Hebrews: in the daily distribution their own widows were being overlooked.” This would create division and serve as a counter-witness to building loving and caring communities. Division sets in because they did not put Jesus at the centre of their lives and mission.
The work of building the Church and uniting the community requires that all of us make Christ as the cornerstone of our faith and life. If we rely only on our human ways and strategies, no matter how good they are, without God’s grace and divine wisdom, we will fail. That is why, charity work and service must also be founded in the Lord, not on us and our hard work alone. The apostles were always conscious of this, and in their wisdom, the Twelve called a full meeting of the disciples and addressed them, “It would not be right for us to neglect the word of God so as to give out food; you, brothers, must select from among yourselves seven men of good reputation, filled with the Spirit and with wisdom; we will hand over this duty to them, and continue to devote ourselves to prayer and to the service of the word.” They knew that unless the people were grounded in the Word of God, and nourished by the Eucharist, they would become divided because they lacked a common foundation.
In the Second Reading, St Peter wrote to the newly baptised Christians, encouraging them to stay faithful to Christ so that they too could build His Church, “The Lord is the living stone, rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him; set yourselves close to him so that you too, the holy priesthood that offers the spiritual sacrifices which Jesus Christ has made acceptable to God, may be living stones making a spiritual house.” Indeed, we must get our priorities right in life. Unless we are rooted in our Lord, founded on His Word and nourished by His body and blood, we will not be powerful witnesses. St Peter reminds us, “you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people set apart to sing the praises of God who called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.” Only those who have encountered the Lord, are convicted that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life can rejoice and invite everyone as the psalmist did, saying, to “Ring out your joy to the Lord, O you just; for praise is fitting for loyal hearts.”
Let us once again re-centre ourselves in the Lord if we do not want to stumble and fall along the way to the Father’s house. St Peter warns us, “That means that for you who are believers, it is precious; but for unbelievers, the stone rejected by the builders has proved to be the keystone, a stone to stumble over, a rock to bring men down. They stumble over it because they do not believe in the word; it was the fate in store for them.” Let us build our house, our lives, our community, our work, and our activities in Christ. Only then can we be certain that we will be fruitful in all that we do, because we know that our plans, just like our Lord’s, are in accordance with His Father’s will. Make Jesus, the centre of our lives!
Best Practices for Using the Daily Scripture Reflections
- Encounter God through the spirit of prayer and the scripture by reflecting and praying the Word of God daily. The purpose is to bring you to prayer and to a deeper union with the Lord on the level of the heart.
- Daily reflections when archived will lead many to accumulate all the reflections of the week and pray in one sitting. This will compromise your capacity to enter deeply into the Word of God, as the tendency is to read for knowledge rather than a prayerful reading of the Word for the purpose of developing a personal and affective relationship with the Lord.
- It is more important to pray deeply, not read widely. The current reflections of the day would be more than sufficient for anyone who wants to pray deeply and be led into an intimacy with the Lord.
Note: You may share this reflection with someone. However, please note that reflections are not archived online nor will they be available via email request.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
