Easter Octave 2024 - Friday - Living the Resurrection with Courage

 Our readings from the book of Acts during this Octave week of Easter, serve to help us understand the significance and impact of the resurrection for the Church.

The apostles' boldness in proclaiming the risen Christ underlines the reality and transformative power of the resurrection. I’ve said it multiple times this week: Easter is not just a historical event in the past. But a living reality that shapes and animates our lives. 

The account of Peter and John’s fortitude in their arrest, imprisonment, and questioning before the Sanhedrin in the reading today shows us how the power of the resurrection enables us to face opposition and persecution with hope and courage—opposition and persecution much like our Lord experienced.

Consider the parallels between Peter and John’s experience, and what the Lord faced. 

Jesus is brought before the Jewish religious leaders who challenge Him and ultimately seek His death. And Peter and John are brought before a similar group of leaders, elders, and scribes, including the high priest. 

Jesus was arrested after being perceived as a threat to the religious and Roman authority due to His teachings, miracles, and the claim of being the Messiah. Peter and John are arrested for proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus, which continued to threaten their authority.

Jesus was questioned about His authority to teach, perform miracles, and His identity as the Son of God. Peter and John are questioned by what authority they performed the miraculous healing of the lame man at the temple gate.

Both Jesus' trial and the questioning of Peter and John highlight themes of faithfulness, witness, and the power of God working through individuals for His purpose. Jesus' trial culminates in His ultimate act of faithfulness—His crucifixion and resurrection—while Peter and John's encounter with the Sanhedrin becomes an opportunity to bear witness to the risen Christ.

The parallels between Jesus' trial and the questioning of Peter and John serve as a powerful reminder that we, as followers of Christ, are called to walk in His footsteps. But, just as the resurrection emboldened Peter and John to witness to the truth of Christ in the face of great adversity, so too are we called to embody that same courage and conviction in our daily lives. The challenges we face may not always be as dire as those of the apostles, but the opposition to truth, to goodness, and to the Christian way of life is ever-present in various forms in our world today.

As we continue to allow the living reality of Easter to shape our lives, may our lives truly reflect the transformative power of Christ's victory over death, so that through us, others may come to know the hope and joy and salvation of the Risen Lord, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

Octave of Easter 2023 - Friday - Come have breakfast

 On Easter Sunday morning, when the angel appeared to the women at the empty tomb, the angel told them to tell the disciples to go to Galilee, and there they shall see the Lord. Well, today, we hear how the disciples have gone to Galilee—the Sea of Tiberius is another name for the Sea of Galilee—and there they see the Lord. Why they decided to go fishing instead of preaching, teaching, healing, and spreading the Gospel is another question. They don’t even appear to be looking that hard for Jesus, in fact, they seem to have retreated back to what they were doing before Jesus called them.  Well, they might not having been looking that hard for Jesus, but Jesus was looking for them. Upon seeing him, they make their way to shore, and Jesus says to them, “come, have breakfast”.  

There is something unique about breakfast. It’s not a royal banquet, it’s a simple meal, typically shared with family. It’s informal; everybody might still be a bit disheveled—not everyone is washed or totally awake. The disciples, after a night of working, certainly fit this description. Like a parent for children still groggy from sleep, the Lord makes breakfast for these groggy children, he even calls them children. 

Jesus knew the disciples would be hungry after a night of fishing, but no doubt they were hungrier for the truth: that Jesus was with them, that he had indeed risen from the dead, that their first two encounters with him weren’t hallucinations, he wasn’t a ghost, and that he was continuing to prepare them for the great mission of spreading the good news, making disciples, teaching all nations that salvation is found in Him.

Easter was 5 days ago, and we, like the disciples are already a bit groggy from worldly business. Maybe we’ve even retreated back into old comfort zones instead of allowing Easter to change us. Maybe, since Lent is over, we haven’t been looking for Jesus that hard in prayer. But it is good that we are here, at Mass. Weekday Mass is so powerful, and I wish more people would come to weekday Mass, because the Lord meets us here for breakfast, for an intimate family meal, to feed us, to reorient us for the work he has for us out in the world. 

The Collect for Mass this morning asked God to dispose our minds that the faith we celebrate may be expressed in our deeds. That’s exactly what the Lord was doing on the seashore with the disciples, opening their minds to the reality of his resurrection, that their faith might impel them into the world. And he does the same thing here. May the reality and power of the Lord’s resurrection animate our words and deeds today, for the glory of God and salvation of souls. 

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Filled with Paschal joy, let us turn earnestly to God, to graciously hear our prayers and supplications.

For the shepherds of our souls, that they may have the strength to govern wisely the flock entrusted to them by the Good Shepherd.

For the whole world, that it may truly know the peace of the Risen Christ. 

For our own community, that it may bear witness with great confidence to the Resurrection of Christ, and that the newly initiated hold fast to the faith they have received. 

For our brothers and sisters who suffer, that their sorrow may be turned to gladness through the Christian faith.

That all of our beloved dead and all the souls in purgatory may come to the glory of the Resurrection.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the desires of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our lord.

Easter Octave 2022 - Friday - Catch Fish, Eat Breakfast

 

We all know the famous story in the Gospels about Jesus at the beginning of his public ministry approaching the apostles on the sea of Galilee after a fruitless night of fishing. He tells them to cast their nets into the sea and they do, and they pull in this huge catch of fish. He says, “you think that’s impressive” from now on you will be fishers of men.

We find that story in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. But not John. Rather, in John we find today’s Gospel passage. Following the resurrection, the apostles spend a fruitless night fishing, but then in the morning, the risen Jesus appears on the seashore, though like the disciples on the road to Emmaus and mary Magdalene at the tomb, the fishermen do not immediately recognize Jesus. The risen Jesus commands them to cast their nets into the waters once again, and after bringing in this catch of fish, they then have breakfast with the Lord, and come to recognize him in the breaking of bread, in that communal meal.

So, while John’s Gospel doesn’t contain that explicit explanation that the disciples will be catching converts, it is certainly implied. And not only that, but the Gospel also implies what exactly the apostles were to do after catching them. They were to eat with them. They were to celebrate the Eucharistic meal, in which Christ is made known in the breaking of the bread. Catch converts, celebrate Mass with them. 

In the early Church, and in some places today, after receiving the Easter Sacraments, the neophytes, still dressed in their baptismal garb, would gather for some post-baptismal instruction and they would gather daily for mass. The pattern of today’s Gospel would repeated in their lives.

But also with the whole Church, the easter season for the whole church means a recommitment to the promises made at our baptism, a recommitment to our belief in the Eucharist, and a recommitment to the Gospel mission. This is why next week we will hear the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, which begins with the need to be born again by water and spirit, and then immediately transitioning into the bread of life discourse.

Where Lent was about emptying, Easter is about filling. Lenten penances helped us empty ourselves of distractions and sinful attachments, so that during easter we might be filled up with knowledge and grace.

In the days ahead, may we contain to be open to the ways the Lord wishes to form us as fishers of men, drawing converts to Him here at the Eucharistic table. And may these Easter days help us to cherish our faith and the sacred mysteries in which the Lord is made known for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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Filled with Paschal joy, let us turn earnestly to God, to graciously hear our prayers and supplications.

For the shepherds of our souls, the pope, bishops, and clergy, that they may govern wisely the flock entrusted to them by the Good Shepherd leading us faithfully in the Gospel mandate.

For the whole world, that it may truly know the peace of the Risen Christ.

That our parish may bear witness with great confidence to the Resurrection of Christ, and that the newly initiated hold fast to the faith they have received. 

For our brothers and sisters who suffer, that their sorrow may be turned to gladness through the Christian faith.

That all of our beloved dead and all the souls in purgatory may come to the glory of the Resurrection.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the desires of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our lord.

Easter Octave 2021 - Friday - Revealed

 The very first verse and the very last verse of the Gospel passage today contain a very important word: reveal. After his resurrection, the risen Lord “revealed” himself to his disciples. 

St. John likes to use this word, both in his Gospel and in the book of Revelation. He’s even sometimes called “St. John the Revelator” 

The signs Jesus accomplished throughout John’s Gospel: the wedding at Cana, walking on water, multiplying loaves, raising the dead, reveal Jesus’ identity and his mission—his divine identity and his mission to bring about the salvation of mankind.

Two details certainly reveal his identity and mission in the Gospel today: the miraculous catch of fish and the meal Jesus provides. And yet, these two details reveal something about the church, too. Just as at Jesus’ word, the net is cast into the sea after a long night of fruitless fishing, now in the period after the resurrection the church is to cast the net of the Gospel into the world, to bring in souls. We are made fishers of men. And just as the risen lord shares a meal with his friends on the seashore, the members of the church, are to celebrate the holy mass, in which the lord feeds his friends with his body and blood in every corner of the world. 

The Lord wishes to use us to continue to reveal that his is Risen from the dead. The Church’s mission continues and will continue until the Lord’s return: to help people believe that Jesus is God, that he is savior, and that he is risen. 

In the Gospel, it takes a number of disciples to pull in that net of fish, and so too with us. It takes a number of Christians, working together, to bring souls to Christ. Who are your fishing partners? Your not meant to be working all alone. The work of the Gospel is never a solitary act. Where two or three are gathered, the Lord is revealed. 

Lord, reveal to me how you wish me to reveal you to others, today. For the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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Filled with Paschal joy, let us turn earnestly to God, to graciously hear our prayers and supplications.

For the shepherds of our souls, that they may have the strength to govern wisely the flock entrusted to them by the Good Shepherd.

For the whole world, that it may truly know the peace of the Risen Christ. 

For our own community, that it may bear witness with great confidence to the Resurrection of Christ, and that the newly initiated hold fast to and grow in the faith they have received. 

For our brothers and sisters who suffer, that their sorrow may be turned to gladness through the Christian faith.

That all of our beloved dead and all the souls in purgatory may come to the glory of the Resurrection.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the desires of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our lord.

Octave of Easter 2019 - Friday - Recognizing the Risen Lord

The post-resurrection accounts of the disciples’ encounters with the Risen Jesus often contain an interesting detail. The disciples often do not recognize Jesus after his resurrection. Mary Magdalene thought that Jesus was the gardener. She did not recognize it was the Lord until he spoke her name. The disciples on the road to Emmaus walked, talked, and ate with Jesus but did not recognize him until he broke the bread.

In today’s Gospel, though Jesus was standing on the shore of the Sea of Tiberius, the disciples did not realize it was Jesus. It was not until they brought in this miraculous catch of fish that St. John, the beloved disciple recognized that it was Jesus.

Why this failure to recognize Jesus? Scripture isn’t exactly clear. Jesus truly had a material body after the resurrection: he truly stood on earthly ground, he sat and ate food. And it was the same body that was crucified: in the upper room, he bore the scars of crucifixion. But there was also something different. Where our earthly bodies decay, and age, and are bound by earthly limits: Jesus’ glorified body was something that no one had ever seen before. Heaven—eternity—now infused his earthly body.

One Scripture commentator ponders todays passage. He writes: you will ask how was it that John was the first to recognize Christ I reply that while Peter was occupied in drawing up the net full of great fishes John more carefully looked at Jesus and Jesus first presented his appearance to st. John because he most chiefly loved him and because he was most pure. “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God”

Among the Apostles, John had never married, and he also had a special purity about him, and a special Love for the Lord. John reclined at the breast of Jesus at the last supper. The more familiar and intimate anyone is with God—the more we truly contemplate, adore, and love God—through prayer and service, the more we will recognize the attributes of God when we come across them.
The same commentator explains that a pure heart means “first, a chaste mind free from all lust and carnal concupiscence. Second, a pure conscience, cleansed from every stain of sin, from evil thoughts and desires…evil intentions, especially duplicity and hypocrisy.”

St. John, likely recognized Jesus, because he loved Jesus above all things. He alone among the Apostles followed Jesus all the way to Calvary. May St. John, the patron of our diocese, help us to cultivate that purity of heart, that love of Jesus above all things, that we may recognize the Lord more easily in the circumstances of life, and come to behold his face in eternity, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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Filled with Paschal joy, let us turn earnestly to God, to graciously hear our prayers and supplications.
For the shepherds of our souls, that they may have the strength to govern wisely the flock entrusted to them by the Good Shepherd.
For the whole world, that it may truly know the peace of the Risen Christ. And for the victims of the terrorist bombings in Sri Lanka and their families, for consolation in their grief, and assistance in their needs.
For our parish, that it may bear witness with great confidence to the Resurrection of Christ, and that the newly initiated hold fast to the faith they have received.
For our brothers and sisters who suffer, that their sorrow may be turned to gladness through the Christian faith.
That all of our beloved dead and all the souls in purgatory may come to the glory of the Resurrection.
O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the desires of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our lord.

Easter Octave 2018 - Friday - "Come Have Breakfast"

When the angel appeared to the women at the empty tomb, the angel told them to tell the disciples to go to Galilee, and there they shall see the Lord. Well, today, we hear how they have gone to Galilee—the Sea of Tiberius is another name for the Sea of Galilee—and there they see the Lord. Why they decided to go fishing is questionable, shouldn’t they have been focusing on looking for Jesus instead of retreating back to their comfort zones?

Well, they might not having been looking for Jesus, but Jesus was looking for them. And making their way to shore, Jesus says to them, “come, have breakfast”.  There is something special about breakfast. It’s not a royal banquet, it’s a simple, yet intimate meal, typically shared with family. It’s informal, everybody might still be a bit disheveled, not everyone is washed. The disciples, after a night of working, certainly fit this description.

And Jesus is the one here who makes breakfast for the group. Like a parent for children, still groggy from sleep. In fact, Jesus calls the disciples “children” here, doesn’t he. And just like groggy children, the disciples didn’t seem quite awake when they first saw the Lord.

This is also going to be a moment of reconciliation and a sharing of love, just like the family table is meant to be. For it was beside a charcoal fire that Peter denied Jesus, and now beside a charcoal fire, Peter will express his sorrow and his love for Jesus.

Jesus knew the disciples would be hungry after a night of fishing, but no doubt they were hungrier for the truth: that Jesus was with them, that he had indeed risen from the dead, that their first two encounters with him weren’t hallucinations, he wasn’t a ghost, and that he was continuing to prepare them for the great mission of spreading the good news, making disciples, teaching all nations that salvation is found in Him.

We are like the disciples here, groggy, a bit distracted, disheveled from all of our worldly business. And Jesus, calls out to us, often in a voice we don’t initially recognize, to come and to be renewed in faith, to be reconciled with Him, to deepen our love for Him. Jesus knew the disciples needed to be strengthened for their mission, so he feeds them, and he feeds us too, in intimate moments of prayer and with His Body and Blood in the Eucharist.

But he does so, that we may wake up, and shrug off our grogginess, and be ever more focused and intent on spreading the Gospel and building up His Body the Church, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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Filled with Paschal joy, let us turn earnestly to God, to graciously hear our prayers and supplications.

For the shepherds of our souls, that they may have the strength to govern wisely the flock entrusted to them by the Good Shepherd.

For the whole world, that it may truly know the peace of the Risen Christ.

For our own community, that it may bear witness with great confidence to the Resurrection of Christ, and that the newly initiated hold fast to the faith they have received.

For our brothers and sisters who suffer, that their sorrow may be turned to gladness through the Christian faith.

That all of our beloved dead and all the souls in purgatory may come to the glory of the Resurrection.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the desires of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our lord.

Easter Friday 2017 - Fish transformed into Fishermen

The sailing ship or fisherman’s boat was an ancient Christian symbol for the Church. The Barque of Peter sailing on a wind-tossed sea of worldliness, disbelief, persecution carrying her cargo of human souls.

The symbol draws some of its imagery from Noah’s Ark, which protected Noah’s family during the flood. Jesus too protects Peter’s boat and the apostles on the storm Sea of Galilee.

Saint Anselm said that the Bark of the Church may be Swept by the Waves of the world, but she can never sink, because Christ is with us. When the Church is in Greatest Need, Christ comes to her help through miracles, or by raising up Saintly Men to strengthen and purify her. She is the Bark of Peter; when the Storm threatens to Sink her, the Lord awakens from His Sleep, and Commands the Winds and Waters into Calm: “Peace; be still!”

Many Church buildings even are built to resemble a ship: the main nave contains the faithful gathered like in the galley of a ship. In fact, the word nave, comes from the Latin “Navis” which means, ship.  The ribbing of the church rafters even resemble the ribs of a ship.

In today’s Gospel, the risen Lord commands Peter to cast the net over the right side of the boat and brings in a large catch. This has always been the Church’s mission.

Under the guidance of the successor of St. Peter, the Pope: we fish for souls, that those souls may come to safe harbor, the port of Heaven. One of the earliest symbols for the Christian was a fish: the icthus. Once safely in the boat, fish are transformed into fisherman and are put to work to cast out into deep waters.

The net cast at the command of Christ symbolizes our Evangelizing Mission. The Quantity of fish netted, One Hundred and Fifty-Three (153), is the total number of Species of Fish known by the Greek Civilization at that particular time in History. Therefore, this Number represents all of mankind to which the saving Gospel is to be preached.

After being pulled into the safety of the Barque of Peter, the disciples then go to shore in order to eat a meal with the Lord: a beautiful symbol of the celebration of Eucharist. We go out into the stormy world with all of its errors and vices, seeking to make a catch of souls, and then come back to the presence of the Lord for the celebration of Eucharist—in thanksgiving for keeping our own souls safe from evil and seeking strength to be more faithful and effective in our mission.

May our celebration of the Eucharist today and throughout the Easter season continue to strengthen us for the evangelizing mission, to spread the Gospel to all people, that no soul may be lost to the watery chaos, including our own, but may be brought to the glory of our eternal homeland, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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Filled with paschal joy, let us pray more earnestly to God that he, who graciously listened to the prayers and supplications of his beloved Son, may now be pleased to look upon us in our lowliness.
1. For the shepherds of our souls, that they may have the strength to govern wisely, the flock entrusted to them by the Good Shepherd.
2. For the whole world, that it may truly know the peace given by Christ.
3. For our brothers and sisters who suffer, that their sorrow may be turned to gladness which no one can take from them.
4. For our own community, that it may bear witness with great confidence to the Resurrection of Christ.
O God, who know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the desires of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ Our Lord.