Glory Where It Belongs

Easter Feria

Today's Readings:
[ Acts 14:5-18; Ps 115:1-12; Jn 14:21-26 ]

In today’s readings we are reminded how easily the human heart turns good gifts into objects of misplaced devotion, and how patiently God calls us back to Himself.

In Acts, Paul and Barnabas are mistaken for gods after healing a man. The crowd, seeing power, immediately seeks to worship the messengers rather than the One who sent them. Their response is the heart of the Franciscan stance in the world: they tear their clothes and cry out, “We are mortals just like you”. There is a deep humility here, a refusal to receive glory that belongs only to God. Like St. Francis of Assisi, who embraced littleness and simplicity, they redirect attention to the Creator, “who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.”

Psalm 115 echoes this same truth: “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory.” The psalm contrasts the living God with lifeless idols shaped by human hands. It’s a sobering reminder that idolatry is not just ancient history... it is any moment we place our trust in what we can control, measure, or admire, rather than in God. Franciscan theology invites us to see all creation as a sign pointing beyond itself, never something to possess or exalt above its Creator.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus offers a corrective and a promise. “They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me.” Love of God is not abstract—it is lived, embodied, and obedient. And yet we are not left to manage this on our own. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, “will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.”

Here is the heart of the reflection: we are called to live humbly in a world full of good things, without mistaking them for ultimate things. We are invited to love Christ not in grand gestures of self-importance, but in quiet fidelity. And we are sustained by the Spirit, who gently reorients us whenever we drift.

Today, may we give glory where it belongs—and walk lightly, gratefully, and faithfully in God’s presence.