Third Sunday of Easter

One perfect Sunday morning, a priest couldn’t resist the urge to go fishing, so he called up the bishop with a fake raspy voice, saying he had laryngitis. The bishop said he would send another priest to take his Sunday Masses.

The truant priest’s first catch was the biggest fish he had ever caught. Meanwhile, up in heaven, Saint Peter turned to God and said, “This priest lied. He let down his congregation. How can you reward him with this great catch?”

God smiled and said, “Actually, I’m punishing him. Sure, he caught a huge fish ... but who can he tell?”

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Entrance Antiphon: Ps 66 (65):1-2 – “Cry out with joy to God, all the earth; O sing to the glory of His name. O render Him glorious praise, alleluia.”

First Reading: Acts 5:27-32, 40b-41 – “We are witnesses of these words as is the Holy Spirit.”

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11-12, 13 – “I will praise You, Lord, for You have rescued me.”

Second Reading: Rev 5:11-14 – “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches.”

Alleluia: “Alleluia, Alleluia. Christ is risen, creator of all; He has shown pity on all people. Alleluia, Alleluia.” 

Gospel: Jn 21:1-19 – “Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and in like manner the fish.”

Communion Antiphon: Jn 21:12-13 – “Jesus said to His disciples: Come and eat. And He took bread and gave it to them, alleluia.”

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Recall Saint Peter’s proclamation of the resurrection we heard on Easter Sunday morning. There Peter told the crowd that “God raised [Jesus] on the third day and granted that he be visible, not to all people, but to us, the witnesses chosen by God in advance, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead” (Acts 10:40-41).

The Gospel reading we just heard proclaimed is a beautiful example of this reality. The disciples are fishing and, as seems to always be the pattern ... they catch nothing ... there is emptiness. Into their aimlessness and emptiness, a figure appears on the shore who calls out to them, “Children, have you caught anything to eat?” Already, early in this exchange, there is a sense of intimacy, of trust in vulnerability, as they directly and honestly respond, “No, nothing.” He asks them to cast over the right side of the boat and they catch a multitude of fish without tearing the net.

The man on the shore has a fire already blazing with fish and bread cooking. When the disciples get to the shore, the man says, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught,” which is to say: bring something of yourself. And then He says, “Come, have breakfast.” Bring something of yourself, because we are sharing a meal together and to share a meal is to share not simply food, but our very persons. To share breakfast is to share relationship. You bring something, another prepares something, and we share life.

We all know this reality, that to share food calls forth something from all those at table.

You’re an invited guest to a formal supper and you bring with you a bottle of wine or a special hors d'oeuvre. The willingness to share food is a willingness to share life. Have you had this experience? You drop into the home of an elderly neighbor, just to check in and say hello. She asks you to stay for a cup of coffee and some cookies. You respond that you don't have the time and immediately you can sense the disappointment. To not share a cup of coffee is in some way to not have time to share life.

As Saint Peter learned and shared in that homily recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, it was this sharing of life at table that made Jesus' resurrected, abiding presence accessible to the disciples.

This is expressed in another way in the second part of today's Gospel. “Peter, do you love me . . . Peter, do you love me . . . Peter, do you love me?” To love another is to grow in the knowledge of the other. I suppose we have all heard the phrase, “Love is blind.” Everything in Sacred Scripture proclaims this to be untrue. Love opens up the horizon of the heart, the imagination, and the mind. Love makes the other more accessible to us. Peter’s love for Christ draws Peter to share intimately in the life of the Good Shepherd. In a way, Peter through love becomes what he loves … he becomes a shepherd … a leader of God’s people … the Pope.

What makes the reality of Jesus' resurrection accessible to us today? What mediates to us the abiding presence of Jesus, truly alive and present to us in the here and now?

In this we are no different from those first disciples. God makes Jesus visible to us who eat and drink with him. Jesus’ living presence increasingly manifests itself to us when we make ourselves present to Jesus. When we exchange life with Jesus in daily prayer, when we sit with Jesus here at the Eucharistic meal Sunday by Sunday, when we open our minds to His word in Sacred Scripture, when we give our lives in generosity to His most vulnerable children, the truth of Jesus alive and triumphant over death is made visible to us!

As we continue to grow in this living, intimate experience of the Risen Lord, increasingly and naturally our voices come to join the voices of countless numbers in song: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power and riches, wisdom and strength, honor and glory and blessing.”