April 14, 2026 // Tuesday of the Second Week of Easter
Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s First Reading: Acts 4:32-37
Reflect on the Word //
“Now that Lent is over, I don’t think I’m going back.”
My mom’s face clouded over with disappointment as I shared my decision to deactivate my social media page, which had become more of a ministry over the past several years. Before this statement, I had every intention of resurrecting my online presence after a much-needed forty-day fast. But now, I couldn’t reconcile how this public space aligned with the Lord’s mission for my life and prayer as His consecrated spouse. To be perfectly honest, a disordered focus on views, likes, and follower count had started to creep in as well, causing me to grasp control of my platform as if it were my own possession rather than the fruit of God’s provision.
The remedy came in today’s First Reading: “[F]or those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the Apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need” (Acts 4:34-35).
Rather than abandoning my online community and God’s blessing of growth, I was being invited to do something even more radical: lay the “proceeds” of my labor at the feet of Jesus and then let Him disperse my offering to those it would bless or benefit. This was a harder challenge than abandoning my ministry altogether, as it required me to reserve my choicest fruits for the Lord alone, claiming nothing as my own.
Dearest sister, where is the Beloved asking for the first fruits of your heart? As Saint John of the Cross says, “The property of love is never to seek self, to keep back nothing, but to give everything to the one it loves” (source).
The Lord is a jealous Lover, but He also calls us to love the people He places in our path. We can ask Him to help us to seek Him first and foremost and then share the love that is too good to keep to ourselves with those who have need of it. All that we are and have is His. Let’s give it all back to Him to do with us as He wills.
Relate to the Lord // Pray with this question: Where is the Beloved asking for the first fruits of your heart?
