In the Gospel, Jesus
finds Simon Peter and the others go back to their former lives—fishing in the
Sea of Galilee. Remember, when he first met Peter? Jesus told
Peter to leave the fishing business and follow Him. He said “come, follow me, I will make you
fishers of men”
The Apostles had seen Jesus perform miracles; they witnessed
his saving death, and the Risen Lord had appeared to them in the upper
room. You would think their lives would have been radically changed, yet now,
they simply returned to work on the Sea of Galilee as fishermen. Had
anything really changed for them?
Every Christian has
to face the temptation of turning back of returning to one’s former life and
former habits. The newly baptized who
entered the Church at Easter will be tempted to return to former ways; each of
us, though we just renewed the promises of our own baptism on Easter Sunday
when we rejected sin and all of the empty promises of the enemy will continue
to be tempted to return to old habits, old attitudes, old behaviors.
It’s important for
us to humbly admit our temptations to God.
To acknowledge those areas of my life in which we are tempted to
backslide and to fortify ourselves against them with God’s help.
Despite this
tendency to stray from the new life, Jesus, in his mercy, continues to invite his
disciples to fellowship with him, in order to remind them of their mission to
witness to his resurrection. I think the
Lord shows some of his infinite patience in the Gospel today. He enters in to their lives once again. After they bring in a miraculous catch, he
sits down with them, eats a meal with them.
During the Easter season we are mindful of our baptismal
promises that we can remain faithful to them particularly when it is
difficult. May the Lord continue to
fortify us against sin and strengthen us to work always for the glory of God
and salvation of souls.
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