Acts 6:8-15 / John 6:22-29
Whenever we think of work, we would naturally think that there is something to be done.
The work might be labourious and tedious. Or it might be energy sapping and draining.
But whatever the work may be, it would certainly require some thinking beforehand.
Because if no thought is given to the work beforehand, then it might just be one problem after another.
In the gospel, Jesus told the people not to work for food that cannot last, but to work for food that endures to eternal life.
So the people asked about what must they do if they were to do the works that God wants.
And Jesus gave a rather puzzling reply: This is working for God: you must believe in the One He has sent.
That might mean that the primary work is in the spiritual sense, that we need to ponder and meditate what God is calling us to believe in.
In the 1st reading, the deacon Stephen was filled with grace and power, and began to work miracles and great signs among the people.
Stephen was able to do that because it was the Holy Spirit who prompted him as to what to do and what to say.
So the primary work is not to get things done but to pray first.
When we pray, the Holy Spirit will prompt us, just as He prompted Stephen, and then we will know what is the work that God wants us to do.