SPEAKER_00: There's a moment in the spiritual life that almost no one talks about.
SPEAKER_00: It's that moment when you already have enough and still are asking for more.
SPEAKER_00: Not out of hunger, but out of resistance.
SPEAKER_00: That's what's happening in the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: These people have just witnessed the multiplication of the loaves.
SPEAKER_00: They have seen a miracle.
SPEAKER_00: They have been fed by Christ Himself.
SPEAKER_00: And what did they say?
SPEAKER_00: What sign can you do that we may see and believe in you?
SPEAKER_00: It's almost unbelievable.
SPEAKER_00: You already saw it.
SPEAKER_00: You already experienced it, and still you want more proof.
SPEAKER_00: But before we judge them, let's be honest, we do the exact same thing.
SPEAKER_00: God has already worked in your life.
SPEAKER_00: He's already answered prayers.
SPEAKER_00: He's provided for you.
SPEAKER_00: He's given you countless blessings, brought you back when you were very far, and yet with the next difficulty comes, we say the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I need a sign from you.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, if you can just prove this, if you can just prove that you're there and that that just send me a sign, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Uh show me again.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the hard truth.
SPEAKER_00: At some point, it's not about the lack of evidence, it's about the lack of surrender.
SPEAKER_00: Now look at Steven.
SPEAKER_00: Steven, Stephen doesn't ask for a sign.
SPEAKER_00: Stephen becomes the sign.
SPEAKER_00: He stands before the crowd and he does something almost unthinkable.
SPEAKER_00: He tells them the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Not gently, not diplomatically.
SPEAKER_00: You stiff-necked people, you always oppose the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: That's not how you win a crowd.
SPEAKER_00: That's how you lose your life.
SPEAKER_00: That's exactly what happens.
SPEAKER_00: They become furious.
SPEAKER_00: They cover their ears, they drag him out, they stone him.
SPEAKER_00: Here's where everything changes because in that moment Stephen sees something no one else sees.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I see the heavens opened.
SPEAKER_00: While they are all closing their ears, heaven is opening.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see the contrast?
SPEAKER_00: They're shutting everything down and he's being opened up.
SPEAKER_00: They're filled with rage and anger.
SPEAKER_00: He is filled with the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: They're taking his life, but he's already living in eternity.
SPEAKER_00: And then comes the line that should stop us.
SPEAKER_00: As they are killing him, Stephen says, Lord, do not hold this sin against them.
SPEAKER_00: That's not human.
SPEAKER_00: That's Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That's the cross.
SPEAKER_00: That's what happens when someone is completely transformed within.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if we go back to the gospel, they asked for bread.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, I am the bread of life.
SPEAKER_00: They wanted something from him.
SPEAKER_00: He gives them himself.
SPEAKER_00: And that is always the tension.
SPEAKER_00: Because we want solutions, we want signs, we want answers.
SPEAKER_00: God gives us himself.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the reality: if you receive what God gives you, but you don't want him, you will always be unsatisfied.
SPEAKER_00: But if you receive him, even in suffering, even in grief, even in confusion, even in those moments that don't really make much sense, you will have everything.
SPEAKER_00: Stephen understood that.
SPEAKER_00: That's why in the worst moment of his life, he was at peace.
SPEAKER_00: Because he didn't just believe in Jesus, he was united to him.
SPEAKER_00: So here's a question for this Tuesday.
SPEAKER_00: What are you really asking God for?
SPEAKER_00: Another sign?
SPEAKER_00: Another answer?
SPEAKER_00: Another solution?
SPEAKER_00: Or are you asking for him?
SPEAKER_00: Because the Eucharist is not God giving you something, it is God giving you himself.
SPEAKER_00: And if you receive Him, really receive Him, then slowly, quietly, powerfully, He begins to change you.
SPEAKER_00: Until one day, in moments that you would have, moments that would have broken you before, you start to respond differently.
SPEAKER_00: With peace, with strength, with forgiveness, with Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So today stop asking for more signs.
SPEAKER_00: You've already been given enough signs.
SPEAKER_00: You've been already given plenty of blessings.
SPEAKER_00: But you've already been given the greatest sign.
SPEAKER_00: Come to Him, receive Him, and let Him become your everything.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.