Homily for the Week of April 14, 2013

HOMILY: Third Sunday of Easter, 2013 year C Acts 5:27-32 Rev 5:11-14 John 21: 1-19 All the information we have about Jesus comes from what are known as the Gospels of which there are 4. All of the them were written by different persons and written at different times for a different group of people soon after Jesus died. We know from them that when Jesus made his appearances after Easter he did so to a variety of people. But the gospel of John from which I just read gives us the only situation when Jesus met with the 11 apostles. He did this while they were fishing. Jesus is standing on the shore telling his apostles where to fish, and then he prepares breakfast for his hungry friends. I mention this rapid review of the appearances of Jesus after his Resurrection on Easter Sunday to show that in all cases there is no extravagant experience as you may have often associated with this great event. This lack of brilliance and pomp may give each of us a clue to better recognize and appreciate the presence of the risen Jesus here and now and in our life. We can be sure that Jesus is not going to appear to us in a blaze of glory. The Risen Jesus who promised us that he would be with us at all times until the end of time is not going to appear to us with all of the action of a Super Bowl at half time, or a 4th of July fireworks display. The main means by which the Risen Jesus has chosen to be present to us in our life is very basic, very simple. The Risen Jesus meets and greets us in all of our ordinary, all of our everyday, down-to-earth existence, in all of our weekend and weekday work and worries. The risen Jesus is in our midst during this Mass as often as we hear his living, loving voice in the Gospel. Jesus is always alive as he continues to tell us his stories and the advice which he told his friends and continues to tell us. Our most direct encounter with the risen Jesus occurs when he does for us what he did for his disciples in today's gospel, namely, when he feeds us. But here and now he feeds us not with fish and bread baked on a charcoal fire. Now he feeds us with the very Bread of Life which is himself. What a privilege, what a marvel it is for us to receive the Risen Jesus. Our faith also teaches us that when the risen Jesus appears to us he asks us the same question he asked Peter in today's gospel: Do you love me? Our reply should be the same as Peter's: Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. But because true love is a not a word but a way of life, the Risen Jesus tells us: Feed my lambs, Tend my sheep, Feed my Sheep. In this command is the real test of our meeting with Jesus. And then Jesus tells Peter: Follow me. We saw in our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles that Peter was no longer fishing but he was leading others to Jesus. Peter teaches in the name of Jesus. Some 600 years ago before Jesus was born a great Chinese philosopher said: Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. These are profound words between giving and feeding and teaching, words that many of us as leaders and parents and teachers would do well to follow. Jesus shows us how to tell the difference between sheep and goats. The sheep of Jesus are those who are hungry and thirsty, those who are strangers, those who are naked, those who are sick, those who are in jail. Whenever we feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome strangers, clothe the naked and visit the ill and those in prison, do our best to be loving and caring parents to our children, and being loving and caring children to our parents, we then meet the Risen Jesus himself. For Jesus once said that whatever you do to the least of these my brothers and sisters, you do for me. We too must be like Peter. Our life in Jesus requires us to share that life with others. How do we do this? It can be in small ways like saying something kind to others, or not saying something critical of others, an apology, a smile. At times we can feel joy and happiness in it; at other times we might find it a burden. Whatever we try to do to follow Jesus, we must believe that Jesus will give us all we need to do what we have to do, even forgiveness when necessary. Yes, Jesus has Risen from the dead. But Jesus is always with us.