John 21:1-19 Do you love me?

In today's Gospel the Apostles are fishing, catching nothing.  Easter is a time of joy and new beginnings in the Light of the Resurrected Christ.  As the dawn breaks, they see Christ Jesus upon the shore.  Recall that he had summoned them to be fishers of men in a similar way before the crucifixion.  Again he calls them to be fishers of men, in a sense, by lowering their nets into the ride side of the boat.  Clement of Alexandria wrote about Jesus in a hymn in his Pedagogues III,

"...Fisher of men,

you, their Savior:

from the sea of evil

you pull the pure fish,

out of the hostile storm

you draw them to the life of blessedness..."

We are the fish, while Peter and the Apostles represent the Church in relation to Christ.  They bring us to the shore bathed in light where Jesus is waiting.  That Christ breaks the bread with them in that first breakfast of the Resurrection assures us that he will continue to nourish us. 

Why does he do this?  Love.  He asks Peter three times, "Do you love me?"  It is as if to undo those three times that Peter denied him.  At the same time, each time Peter says, I love you, it could be though of as saying it to each member of the Holy Trinity, with whom he is in communion with; and at the same time, he stands for us, as the rock on which our church is founded.  He answers for us, "Yes Lord, I love you."  My we continue loving the Lord with each moment of our lives.  Amen.

John 6:1-15 Loaves and Fishes

In this first reading we again have the Apostles and other disciples preaching.  Recall that the Sanhedrin was putting them on trial with the possibility of death.  The Apostles and disciples had therefore been in jail and mysteriously released, but we know it was due to heavenly visitors.  Gamaliel was a Doctor of the Law, head of an important rabbinic school, and member of the Sanhedrin.   In recognition of God’s intervention for the Jewish people throughout their covenant, Gamaliel recognizes that God may be present here too.  He argued that they Apostles should not be harmed saying, “have nothing to do with these men, and let them go.  For if this endeavor or this activity is of human origin, it will destroy itself.  But if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them; you may even find yourselves fighting against God.”  That which is of human origin will ultimately parish, but that which is from God will endure.

Truth endures forever.  The Apostles, the martyrs, and we seek the Lord, our Truth, and our refuge, for the Lord is our Light and Our Salvation.  Did he not teach us about heavenly things?  Does he not feed us with what we need to nourish ourselves? 

In today’s Gospel Jesus sits with the others and the crowds.  These are the people who walked to where he is currently, which the Lord crossed the waters in a boat with the Apostles.  The crowds had followed him seeking relief from their pains, anxieties, and sicknesses. His words ease their pains, and his heavenly touch and presence cures their ills.  Asking Philip and Andrew if there is enough food for all, he is told no. 

It is springtime.  The Passover is near, and they are with the Lamb.  The loaves and fish are distributed and it is a miracle, everyone receives and an abundance remains.  This is true of the grace and blessings of this feast with the Lord, then and now.  The Lord invites those seeking him into his company and provides nourishment at his banquet, providing the food himself through the Spirit. 

It is the same way at Holy Communion when the Lord invites us to his table.  Every time we receive the Holy Eucharist the Lords blessings and abundant graces are poured out for us.  Christ Jesus is our Paschal lamb.  We are still within the Easter season celebrating his death and Resurrection.  Matthew tells us, “One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.” 

Christ came not only to nourish us with bread and wine, but to feed us with himself: that is the Word of God.  The loaves and fishes are a foreshadowing of what happens in the breaking of the bread at mass.  The Holy Eucharist is Christ himself under the species of bread and wine.  The receiving of the host during the Sacrament of Communion is the outward and visible sign of that inward and divine spiritual gift, which is God himself.  May we always love the Blessed Eucharist for what it is, and learn to love being with Christ, the Pascal Lamb and the newness of life which he gives us through his death and Resurrection.  Amen.

John 21: 1-14 Have you caught anything to eat?

Yesterday I mentioned a little of Christ Jesus' humor.  Today in the Gospel, the Risen Christ stands upon the shore and calls out to a boat of adult male fishermen, "Children, have you caught anything to eat?"  I wonder how annoyed they were at first, or if they thought this guy was crazy, especially when he next told them to throw their nets over the other side of the boat.   Here's the catch, they threw their nets on the right side of the boat like the guy on shore said, and they caught so many fish, they nearly couldn't haul it in.  That was when John recognized the Lord and dove into the deep water to be the first to reach Christ on the shore. 

Once all together, the Lord feeds and nourishes them for their trouble and exertions in reaching him when he called out to them.  That is the cool thing about the God, he is always the initiation, the first mover, whether as God the Father, God the Son, or God the Holy Spirit, and then he waits for us to respond, and join into a communion with him.  This Easter season, we have a Risen Lord encouraging us to repent and live do that we might live in him.  How are we responding to that call?

John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30 One Does Not Live on Bread Alone

Have you ever known anyone to crash a party or wedding?  In 2009 Tareq and Michaele Salahi were reported to have crashed a White House party.  The  party crashing scandal was in newspapers and media broadcasts worldwide.  People wondered how they could have just walked into the White House, others simply wondered at it all. 

The events in today's Gospel elicited a similar reaction to the Jews of his time when he entered Jerusalem.  They wondered if the authorities accepted him a Christ, and what their response should be.  Note that the Jews had been trying to have him killed for blasphemy for saying that he was the Son of God and equal to God. 

Jesus shows us two things in this Gospel story.  First, that he, although the Son of Man, he came not to replace the Law, but to fulfill it.  He shows us this by his travelling to Jerusalem for the Festival of Tabernacles, known as Sukkot.  It is the third of three great feasts and required Jewish men to make the pilgrimage to the Temple at Jerusalem where main celebration was held in the sanctuary, or tabernacle (dwelling place of God) where the celebration of the remembrance of the escape from slavery for the Israelites was recounted, the entire festival iterating the dependence on God.
Jesus is here to be with God the Father, in communion with all these people, in his Father's house.  He is celebrating with them the freedom from slavery.  His time has not yet come, and soon he will be saving them from a different kind of slavery, that of sin.  It is interesting too that he, the Lord Jesus Christ, is within the tabernacle here, not only in the physical one erected by the people, but also that comprised of the faithful.

The second thing that Jesus does is to show that not only is he obedient to the Father, but that the Father has appointed times for all things.  Jesus' time to fulfill the Father's will through his death is not yet come.  Jesus continues to choose to do the Father's will, just as we all have that freedom of choice.  For Jesus to be at Sukkot causes much talk, much wonder at who he is.  Perhaps we should be that way too, not in a negative way, but in a awe-filled way.

Matthew 5:20-26 A New Heart

Today's antiphon:
"Cast away from you all the crimes that you have committed, says the Lord, and make for yourselves a new heart and spirit."  (Ez 18:31)

Jesus is calling us not just to follow the Law, but follow the spirit of the Law.  Jesus recognized that people were following the rules set for for them by the Ten Commandments, but that was it, they were missing the Spirit of the Law.  That Spirit is why we have the laws, because they were intended to help us form a good conscious, yes, to know right from wrong.  The Laws were also intended to help us form good relationships with each other as our brothers' keeper because we are all members of the world and as such our relationships are interwoven and complex.  Think about it.  Who helped to make your clothes?  You've never met them, and yet they have impacted your life significantly.  Or what about the food that you eat?  You probably haven't met most of the people responsible for it being on your plate, but they have impacted your life. 

Jesus is reminding us that yes, we can follow the Law and be good people.  However he is calling us to go beyond the letter of the Law and acknowledge that we have a greater responsibility than just what the Law calls for.  We are called into communion with each other and in doing so, with God.  When we can see the face of God in others, then we know that we are close to being who Jesus challenges us to be because our hearts are changed.  He is calling us to a new beginning.  It isn't an easy road and if we struggle today, then we always have tomorrow to try again.

Mark 6:1-6 Forgive Me, Lord

For today's readings:  http://usccb.org/bible/readings/020316.cfm

We have heard variations of this Gospel reading a couple of times in January.  Hearing it so much we are mindful of those times that he inflate ourselves and think ourselves all-powerful, losing sight of the fact that we should be humbled before the presence of our all-might ever-living God the Most High. 

The early Christian church was plagued with heresies in which Jesus was considered totally God, or completely man.  Even the Jewish people, many of them in Jesus' time took him merely as a prophet.  Yet it was revealed to a few, and then to billions of people throughout the last two millennia that this was truly God made manifest.  We are called to reflect on our sins and bow down before him in true contrition to ask forgiveness before he turns his back on us as he did those who rejected him at Nazareth.  The Lord offers us the opportunity to repent just as he did his servant David.  We are given the Sacrament of Reconciliation in which we can be given absolution for our sins and given new life with purity of soul and a clean heart.  Let us embrace this Sacrament while we can. We are the Lord's beloved and he wants nothing more than to be in full communion with us.

"Lord, forgive the wrong that I have done." (Today's responsorial psalm.)

Mark 2:18-22 The Bridegroom Is with You

Yesterday we were invited to the Wedding Feast by the Lord.  Today the scribes are asking why Jesus and his disciples do not fast like John and his disciples do.  Jesus responds, "Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?"  The answer is no, it would be an affront to not accept the hospitality offered by the bridegroom, almost an act of aggression. 

A class of 11-14 years olds yesterday were talking about Jesus as the bridegroom.  They discussed how the bridegroom throws the party after the wedding and how he provides the wine and other refreshments, making sure that all who are present are welcomed and comfortable.  They decided that yesterday's reading really showed that he was the bridegroom because he took that part and extended the invitation to each of us because we are all followers, his disciples, and he led his disciples to the feast. 

Could you imagine being called to a wedding where there was no welcome from the couple being married or their family, no celebration, no nothing?  It would be non existent and what was before would remain.  The kingdom isn't like that.  Jesus himself indicates that he is the bridegroom.  He has come in person to fulfill the prophesies.  He has come in person bringing with him a new covenant.  This is the meaning behind the old cloth being patched with the new cloth, or the old wine skin being patched with the new skin.  They old won't hold anymore, even with the patches.  God has extended to us a new, richer, deeper relationship with him through Christ Jesus.  We are called to accept that invitation and celebrate with him our communion.