Acts 7:51-8:1 / Jn 6:30-35
When we think about the events that happened in our lives, the moments we have experienced, the people that we met along the way, then we may come to see that nothing happens by coincidence.
Everything that happened, every person that we encountered, has a bearing on our lives.
The connection between these events and these persons may be made known to us immediately or maybe later on in the future.
In the 1st reading, we heard about two men who were on opposite and opposing sides.
There was Stephen who was standing alone against the elders and scribes and the people, and among them was Saul.
Both of them had nothing to do with each other and may not have known each other.
In the end, the only connection was that as Stephen was stoned to death, the executioners put down their clothes at the feet of Saul, and he entirely approved of the killing.
Yet in the future, Stephen and Saul, who would change his name to Paul, would share the same fate as well as the same faith in Jesus as they laid down their lives for Him.
Both of them were connected and nourished by Jesus the Bread of life and in Him they hungered and thirst no more.
Jesus is our Bread of life and He unites us in love as we partake of Him.
And just as many grains of wheat make a loaf of bread, the many events and persons in our lives will form a meaning and a direction for us towards Jesus who is our all in all. Indeed nothing happens by coincidence.