My warmest wishes to you and your family – that the Love and Peace of Jesus may reign in your homes always.
We have spent 5 weeks of the Lenten Season, dwelling on the sufferings and death of Jesus on the cross. The next subject for reflection is His Resurrection! It would be something difficult for us to believe today, if Jesus did not appear to His own. My firm belief is that He appeared first to His Mother, to confirm to her that the promises made to her at the Annunciation had come true…. “That His reign will have no end”.
Jesus understood the human heart and the turmoil that those close to Him were experiencing. So He appeared to Mary Magdalene; to Thomas the twin and showed him His wounds; to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, explaining the scriptures to them. They were walking away from Jerusalem to Emmaus, a distance of 7 miles. When they recognized Jesus they ran back to Jerusalem to tell their companions that they had seen Jesus.Then He went to the Lake of Tiberias to reveal himself to Peter and the other disciples (Jn 21: 4-17). Along with Peter, there was Thomas the Twin; James and John the sons of Zebedee, Nathanael and two other disciples. Confused about what happened to Jesus that Friday, fearful and not knowing what to do, they went back to fishing. They caught nothing after spending the whole night on the lake. A stranger (to them) standing on the shore told them to cast their net on the right side. They obeyed, and caught 153 fishes! Jesus is a God of abundance, if only we obey Him.
As the disciples returned to the shore with the catch, they recognized Jesus, but dared not say a word. They were tired and hungry. Jesus our God, had bread, fish and a burning fire on the shore at the break of dawn. Jesus our Provider, till to-day, meets our needs in such surprising and unique ways.
Jesus knew they were tired, hungry and feeling low. He said to them, “come and have breakfast”. It must have taken them quite a while to swallow each morsel. But Jesus waited in silence. A silence full of forgiveness and love. Jesus could have used the time to talk about Judas’ betrayal, Simon’s denial and the desertion of the disciples. But verse 15 says “after they had finished breakfast, Jesus spoke to Simon Peter, “Do you love me? – 3 times, to let Peter know his love was important. He gave Peter a mission – Feed my lambs…. Feed my sheep”. Without this mission Peter would have been a broken man. Jesus asks us “Do you love me?” – in a special way? More than you love others? If we say “Yes” despite our frailties and weaknesses, Jesus calls us to share in His mission to care for the people of God. May be we could start by being kind. For example, not pour our hurts and miseries on others; not talk about people even our friends, behind their back; give people the benefit of the doubt. More difficult than fasting, but a lot better for our spiritual life.
J. Rodrigues.