Monday of the Third Week of Easter
John 6: 22-29
Returning to Our Galilee

Today’s Gospel invites us to examine our spiritual journey. The crowds who followed Jesus after the multiplication of loaves reveal a tendency we all share—the drift from genuine spiritual enthusiasm toward more worldly concerns.

Initially, these people sought Jesus for His words and healing. They listened to him for hours without tiring, their hearts aflame with the Gospel. Yet, after witnessing the miracle of the loaves, their motives shifted. “He would make a good leader,” they reasoned, “one who could free us from Roman rule.” They began seeking Jesus not for spiritual nourishment but for temporal advantage.

Jesus gently corrects them: “You are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled.” He redirects them from perishable food to “food that endures for eternal life.” When they ask what they should do, His answer is beautifully simple: “Believe in the Son of God.”

As pilgrims of hope journeying through this Jubilee Year, we face similar temptations. We begin following Christ with sincere hearts, but gradually worldly concerns creep in. Material comfort, social status, or political solutions can subtly replace our first love for the Gospel. We drift from our original encounter with Jesus.

This is why the Jubilee calls us to pilgrimage—not just physical journeys to holy places, but an interior return to our personal “Galilee,” that first moment when Jesus looked at us with love and said, “Follow me.” Remember how after the Resurrection, Jesus instructed the disciples to “go to Galilee” where they had first met Him?

Today, Christ invites each pilgrim of hope to return to that first encounter. Let us pray for the grace to remember our own Galilee, to recapture the freshness of our first call, and to follow Him with renewed hearts on this jubilee journey.

© Claretian Publications, Hong Kong, China
Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica 2025