5 May 2019. (3º T P C)
We hear on this, the Third Sunday of Easter, a new appearance of the Risen Lord to a group of disciples at the sea of Tiberias. Following the death of the Lord they have returned to Galilee as instructed by the Risen Jesus through the women: “Tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me”. They had returned to their previous work, fishing. Although the Lord already had appeared to them earlier in Jerusalem, it seems that the doubts, the uncertainty, still persisted. They had returned to the nets that they left to follow the Master.
And the Lord presented himself to them again, at dawn. “They didn’t know that it was Jesus”. It became a bit lighter: “It is the Lord,” John says. Again, they begin to feel his encouraging presence: “They did not dare to ask who he was because they knew well that it was the Lord”. With his presence, with his advice, a new miraculous catch of fish.
On more than one occasion we have felt the feeling of failure, our forces are weakened, that our faith needs a new push. It is not easy to recognize the risen Lord in the hustle and bustle of every day life. We cannot forget his words, his promise to be with us at all times. He offers us his food: “Come and eat”. He wants us at the start of each day to recover the strength we have lost in vain during the night.
In our lives we need “witnesses of Jesus,” people who like John, with his word and with his life, will help us to re-discover the living presence of Jesus, despite our experience of weakness. He is present in our midst in the group of believers (where two or more are gathered in my name, I am there); he offers us his food (take and eat…). This has to be the driving force that takes us out of discouragement and returns to us the joy of Easter.
Juan Ramon Gomez Pascual, cmf
