service annotated class throws nullpointer exception on a repository call

In a Spring application, I have a class called Utility.java and the class is annotated with the @Service annotation. In that class I am trying to fetch a user in a function to be used globally in the project. Upon calling the user in a controller using the utility method created it throws nullpointer exception from the repository. Below is the code

//Utility.java file

@Service
public class Utility{

@Autowired static UserDao userDao;

public static User findActiveUser(String auth){
        System.out.println("here is the username: " + auth);
        User user = null;
        try {
            user = Utility.userDao.findBy...("user1", "ACTIVE"); //throws null here

        }catch (Exception ex){
            ex.printStackTrace();
        }
        return user;
    }



//Controller annotated class
@Autowired Utility utility;

@GetMapping(value = "/success")
        public String success(Authentication auth,HttpServletRequest request){
            if (auth == null) {
                return "index";
            }
            System.out.println("@dashboard success");
            User user = utility.findActiveUser(auth.getName());

Everything look fine and good to go but still not working