Third Sunday of Easter

Acts 5: 27-32; 40-41             
Apocalypse 5: 11-14
John 21: 1-19
Intro: today's Gospel sees the apostles still in shock, still unable to believe, or even to cope with life. As He appears, Jesus re­ assures and encourages His fearful disciples - and us! - to soldier on in His service.

 Readings: the apostles continue their wok of proclaiming the resurrection in spite of a warning from the Sanhedrin, and are happy to suffer in Jesus' name.

Writing to the Christians of Asia Minor, John declares the whole purpose of Jesus' death was to free them from a useless way of life, and bring them to a new faith and hope in God.

They say truth is stranger than fiction, and it occurs in today's Gospel when a stranger on the shore directs ex­ perienced fishermen who had caught nothing all night long, where to find a huge shoal of fish.

Sometimes the only way we can cope with a difficult situation is by blanking it out and carrying on as if everything were normal. That's just what the apostles are doing: they've been faced with others claiming to have seen the risen Master, but they've seen nothing. Better to get back to normal, the old ways, ways that they knew, ways where they felt safe, their comfort zone - back to fishing for their living.

There are plenty of occasions in our own lives which we find difficult or impossible to cope with, when we're out of our comfort zone. If we try to ignore them, or gloss over them as if they'd never happened, rather than confront them head on, then the wounds which such situations cause will continue to eat away at us, provoking either anger or despair.

At other times, we're just too sore at heart or pre­ occupied with pain, loneliness, rejection, family problems, redundancy, bereavement, to mention but a few, to even see or recognise the hand of God in our lives. But look how Jesus transforms Peter: over another charcoal fire (not the one where he had denied his Master) he makes his three-fold profession of love and faith, and receives Christ's forgiveness and a new commission. Again, no recriminations.

Like John, the beloved disciple, we can but try to recognise the Lord's presence, even in the darkest periods of our lives, realising that He's still there to help with our problems, heal our wounds, lift us from the darkness of our pain and grief, and realise that He offers neither condemnation nor recrimination over past faults, or when we've walked away, but only love. Only then shall we be able to achieve "closure" and accept ourselves as God sees us - His beloved children, brothers and sisters of His beloved Son, in Whom He is well pleased.

How does the resurrection work in us? It's not just a question of believing, but of being transformed, changed. It gives us the power that heals our memories and forgives our sins, but it also calls us to live out the resurrection in our own lives. It gives us the grace, like Peter, to stand before the courts and proclaim our faith to a hostile society. It calls us to care for one another as members of Jesus' flock, guarded over by Peter. We are Christians because of the resurrection. But unless we're open to the power of the risen Christ, and show by our actions that our lives can be transformed too, then there's little point of worshipping at Mass.