Message of Abbot Paul - Sunday 1st May

Abbot Paul • May 1, 2022

Message from Fr Paul for Sunday, 1st May 2022

That first Easter morning, when the women discovered the tomb of Jesus to be empty, the angels asked them to tell the apostles that he was risen from the dead and had gone before them to Galilee. It was there that he would meet them. Jesus himself said the same to Mary Magdalene, that she should announce to the apostles that he was risen and had gone before them into Galilee. There they would see him. Today’s Gospel passage from John, (Jn 21: 1-19), recounts in graphic detail that encounter between the risen Christ and his apostles. It begins with seven of the eleven apostles left, led by Simon Peter, agreeing to go fishing. It seems strange, that they should already be back at work, however that night they catch nothing. In the first light of dawn, Jesus is standing there on the shore, but they fail to recognise him. Even when he speaks to them and calls them friends, suggesting that they should cast their nets to starboard, to begin with they have no idea who it is. Then the beloved disciple, the one who had entered the empty tomb after Peter, saw and believed, now recognises Jesus and says to Peter, “It is the Lord.” Simon Peter jumps straight into the water and dashes towards Jesus, but, sadly, we don’t know what they said to each other.

Jesus is preparing breakfast for the disciples and asks them to put some of their recent catch on the grill together with what is already there. He invites them to break their fast, after all, the Bridegroom has returned and they need no longer fast, but rather rejoice. They don’t ask him who he is, they are probably ashamed they didn’t recognise him sooner, but like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, it is only at the breaking of bread, that they finally know who he is. John tells us, “This was the third time that Jesus showed himself to the disciples after rising from the dead.”

When they have eaten, Jesus questions Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these others do?” He answers, “Yes Lord, you know I love you.” In reply, Jesus commands him to feed his lambs. When Jesus asks him a third time, Peter appears irritated and replies, “Lord, you know everything; you know I love you.” That love will involve not only having pastoral care for the flock of Jesus, but also following in his footsteps when it comes to persecution, suffering and death. “Jesus indicated the kind of death by which Peter would give glory to God.” The disciple must conform to his master in every way and that goes for each one of us as well, for we are disciples of Jesus and our discipleship lies at the very heart of our lives. There is nothing more important for a Christian. At the beginning of the Gospel narrative, when Jesus called his first disciples, Simon Peter among them, he said to them, “Follow me.” Coming to the very end of the Gospel account, Jesus says to Simon Peter, “Follow me.” The Gospel begins and ends with that invitation. And this is what Jesus is saying to us today, it’s what he says to us each day of our lives, “Today, now, at this very moment and at every moment, come, follow me.”

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