7-Apr-2013
Dear Friend, In life we realize that people are rewarded for their successes and punished for failures. Hence we equate living with being always successful. But our common experience tells us that we can't always succeed, we are bound to make mistakes sometimes. However, in our faith life there are no failures and God comes to us especially in moments of failure. In this Easter Season discover a God who never fails us! Fr. Jude Sunday Reflections: 3rd Sunday of Easter "Meet Jesus in ordinary and frustrating events! 14-Apr-2013 Readings: Acts 5: 27-32, 40-41Rev. 5: 11-14John 21: 1-19 In today's first reading, Peter for the first time refers to Jesus as 'Saviour' the liberator of Israel, and the forgiver of the people's sins. The meeting between the high priests, the temple authorities and Peter is held in the context of a miracle that the people witnessed of Peter healing the cripple. Peter openly acknowledges that this has happened not through his power but through the power of Jesus the risen Lord. The priests and scribes refuse to believe the good news and forbid Peter from preaching the Good News. Peter and the other disciples refuse to obey and rejoice that they are considered worthy to suffer for the sake of the name. Through suffering and persecution Peter becomes a stronger witness of the risen Lord. It needed that struggle... A little girl, upon finding a cocoon, brought it home. She waited with eager expectation until the day for the butterfly to come out arrived. A tiny head appeared, munching its way through the grey paper-thin wall. She viewed the little creature with love, but was not prepared for how long it would take and how difficult a time the butterfly would have. With a small stick, ever so carefully, she decided to help the butterfly. Within moments, instead of hours the butterfly was free. Then it tried to fly, but when it stretched its wings, it fell and died. "What happened?" the little girl pleaded with her father, with tear-stained eyes. "I even helped." "The butterfly needed that struggle," her father answered. "Without that, it was never able to strengthen its wings enough to fly." Anon In today's gospel we see the disciples gather together after the resurrection, but unsure of what they are supposed to do. When Peter suggests that he is going fishing, they all followed him and spent the night out fishing but caught nothing. As day breaks Jesus stands there on the shore and calls out to them. When he hears they have caught nothing, he advises then to cast the net to the right side of the boat, and they get a huge catch. There are several insights we can gather from this incident. Often when we do not know what to do, we go back to old familiar ways rather than venture into the unknown. When the disciple go out it is night and when Jesus comes it is dawn. Peter and his companions must have been a frustrated and depressed lot, burdened with failure. They had failed their master in his hour of need, and even their regular occupation of fishing is a failure this night. But Jesus comes to those who feel their life is a failure. He comes at the right moment. The moment the apostles recognize the Lord, Peter can't wait to get to the Lord. He does not wait for the boat to come ashore. He jumps into the water to come as soon as possible to the Lord's side. This reaction of Peter is significant. Peter is a simple, spontaneous human being and he loves the Lord, and his greatest desire is to be by his side no matter what. When they get to the shore Jesus is getting breakfast ready for them. He comes to nourish and he looks ahead rather than at the past. Jesus is here to reassure them that He has truly risen. He eats with them and breaks bread with them as if to remind them that this is what they are supposed to do in his memory, break bread and share the bread that nourishes life. After breakfast he asks Peter the all important question: "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" He asks the question three times in order to give Simon the opportunity to affirm his love three times, to perhaps wipe away his earlier triple denial. After the assurance of his love for him Jesus can conclude the gospel story with a phrase that he had used before but now can says with far more certain meaning: "Come follow me." This time they followed him to death because they loved him. Why I believe! Russian poet, Irina Ratushinskaya was arrested by the Communist authorities in 1983 for writing poems that they considered objectionable. While in prison she was subjected to systematic torture, repeated physical abuse, forced feeding, and solitary confinement in freezing conditions. But so morally strong was this brave woman that she continued to write and secretly smuggle her poems on scraps of paper through sympathetic wardens, soldiers and visitors. On being interviewed by the press, Irina ascribed her heroic struggle and survival to her Christian faith. She said: "When I was in trouble, under pressure, God always seemed closer. God was like a hand on my shoulder all the while I was in prison. My faith in God enabled me to come through my dreaded ordeal alive and even more determined to champion the cause of freedom and justice for all. But there was another contributing factor to Irina's remarkable survival -the close relationship she shared with twelve other women all of whom were prisoners of conscience. These are her precise words: "Danger binds people together and makes them feel responsible for one another. With the pace and pressures of modern life, we are so self-absorbed that it takes an accident or illness to teach us how much we depend on one another. My faith and my experience have taught me a lot about the enormous capacity of the human spirit to be happy in spite of any circumstance." James Valladares in 'Your Words are Spirit, and they are Life' In our failures we can discover strength When he was seven years old, his family was forced out of their home on a legal technicality, and he had to work to support them. At age nine, his mother died. At twenty-two he lost his job as a store clerk. He wanted to go to law school, but his education wasn't good enough. At twenty-three he went into debt to become partner in a small store. At twenty-six, his business partner died, leaving him a huge debt that took years to repay. At twenty-eight, after courting a girl for four years, he asked her to marry him. She said 'no'. At thirty-seven, on his third try, he was elected to the Congress, but two years later, he failed to be re-elected. At forty-one, his four year old son died. At forty-five, he ran for the Senate and lost. At forty-seven, he failed as vice-presidential candidate. At forty-nine, he ran for the Senate and lost. At fifty-one he was elected president of the United States. His name was Abraham Lincoln, a man many consider as one of the greatest leaders of the world. Failures never seemed to have discouraged Lincoln. - In today's gospel. The Lord appeared to seven of his disciples on the shores of Lake Tiberius when they were experiencing despair because their Lord and master had died. Even as they worked and fished through the night they experienced failure. In their despair and failure Jesus comes to them. His appearance to the labouring disciples has many lessons for us. John Rose in 'John's Sunday Homilies' The extraordinary in the ordinary I know how the disciples felt, fishing all night and catching nothing. But Jesus helps them in spite of their disappointment. When they follow his instructions and place their trust in him, they catch fish and recognize the Lord. What strikes me about the post resurrection appearances of Jesus is how he pops up in ordinary places. On a walk by the roadside to Emmaus, in an upper room, and now he pops up on the beach. He was doing what you and I do: cooking on a charcoal fire, and serving a simple meal. Everything appears to be so ordinary. But that is the secret of God's grace. Jesus appears in the unexpected and ordinary places of our lives. Here Jesus is our servant; we in turn must imitate him. Here we are the catch of fish, we in turn are sent out to be fishers for Him. When we understand this, we will know why the early Christians were fascinated with the fish story and why they chose the fish to be the most ancient symbol of Jesus, something so ordinary and plentiful -just like bread and wine on the altar. God continues to feed us and to help us to recognize Jesus through symbols and experiences. John Pichappilly in 'The table of the Word' The sun has risen The editor of one of the leading religious newspapers was walking along some cliffs near Eastbourne, England, one Easter morning. In his walk he met an old fisherman, and during their conversation together, the editor was struck by the simple faith of the old fisherman in his risen Saviour. "How do you know that Jesus has risen?" he asked. "Sir," came the reply, "do you see those cottages near the cliffs? Well, sir, sometimes when I am far out at sea I know that the sun has risen by the light that is reflected by yon cottage windows. How do I know that Christ has risen? Why, sir, do I not see his light reflected from the faces of some of my fellows every day, and do I not feel the light of his glory in my own life? As soon tell me that the sun has not risen when I see his reflected glory, as tell me that my Lord is not risen." Anthony Castle in 'More Quotes and Anecdotes' Walk across the water! It cannot be found in the scriptures, but one story has it that upon his resurrection. The Lord appeared to a certain fisherman. "I am Jesus- My death has saved all who do or will believe in me, and I have returned to show my Father's love and power." "No, you are not Jesus, so go away, you are scaring all the fish," answered the old fisherman. "I see you are full of doubt, what do you want me to do to show you who I am?" "Walk across the water," he tells Jesus. So Jesus starts walking across the water. Next thing, he sinks and disappears under the water. After he swims back to the shore, the old man says to him, "There you are, see, you are not Jesus, you cannot walk across water." Jesus responds, "I used to be able to do it until I got these nail holes in my feet." John Payappilly in 'The Table of the Word' May we experience the risen Lord uplifting us when we are down! Fr. Jude Botelho [email protected] PS. The stories, incidents and anecdotes used in the reflections have been collected over the years from books as well as from sources over the net and from e-mails received. Every effort is made to acknowledge authors whenever possible. If you send in stories or illustrations I would be grateful if you could quote the source as well so that they can be acknowledged if used in these reflections. These reflections are also available on my web site www.netforlife.net Thank you.
