A Message from Fr. Jay
Dear Friends,
After 88 years of living as a child and servant of God, may Pope Francis continue to rest in the peace of the Lord. Let us continue to pray for a new Pope who will lead our Church progressively in our faith journey.
The story about Jesus’ life, death and resurrection in John’s gospel, actually ends with last week’s reading on Jesus and Thomas in chapter 20. But then the 21st chapter was added as P.S (Post Scriptum) for educating us on how the Apostles could integrate their routine life with the experience of resurrected Christ.
Jesus makes the charcoal fire for the Apostles, particularly for Peter- who denied Jesus once in front of a similar charcoal fire. This time, Peter melted down himself when he saw the charcoal fire and was convinced to proclaim that Jesus is resurrected.
Still not clear on what to do, they went back to fishing and on Jesus’ word they benefited a great haul of 153 large fish. When they got what they wanted, they did not remain complacent about continuing to fish as a profession, but rather they readied themselves to catch the people for His kingdom. They moved on.
God has blessed us with a great haul of benefits and gifts. During this week, let us try to number them. I am certain that it would run more than 153. With this big haul of gifts, like the Apostles and particularly Peter, let us move on to Jesus. Integration of our life with Jesus is the only way of witnessing the resurrected Christ. The Holy Eucharist is the only way to integrate our lives with Jesus. When we visit the Holy Eucharist, remember the words of John telling Peter, ‘It is the Lord!’
Let our lives become the proclamation of resurrected Jesus!
God Bless,
Fr. Jay Raju
Reading 1: Acts 5:27-32, 40b-41
Reading 2: Revelation 5:11-14
Gospel: John 21:1-19
