Jesus gets us breakfast

I must admit that I don’t understand today’s gospel. It is right after the resurrection of Jesus. The disciples knew that Jesus had risen from the dead, but what do they do? They go back to fishing: Peter, Thomas, Nathanael and the sons of Zebedee. They went back to what they had been doing before; they went fishing. They didn’t go out fishing to relax, not it was their job, so they went back to work. I thought that they had left everything when after they had been called by Jesus. They had left their boats, they had even left their father, but here they are again as if nothing had happened. They are no longer fishers of men, but once again they are fishers of fish. As if their time as disciples had been for nothing, they simply returned to their previous life, as if nothing had happened.

The sad thing is that not only did they leave Jesus and return to their old life but they also are not very good at their old job, it says that they fished all night without catching anything. Now Jesus arrives on the scene and they don’t recognize him. Their friend with whom they had spent so much time, shared so many experiences, they had heard him preach, witnessed his miracles, but he leaves for a bit and they return to their old way of  ife.

We are like those disciples in the gospel. We are like the flowers here decorating our altar. They are into their third week of easter and they're dying, they need water, the life has gone out of them. Like the disciples we have returned to our old way of life; what is our relationship with Jesus like, it is growing? Is anything changed is nothing different. Many times what happens with us is that we celebrate a sacrament in the church: baptism, marriage, 1st communion, or confirmation we begin to live our faith but after a while we are back in the same old rut. Our lives return to being mediocre and routine, we return to the life of before. We have to remember that Jesus has risen and that everything is different, we have to cast the net to the right and not always continue to the left side. Always doing everything the same way as before.

There are two important things in the gospel. First, the disciples finally recognized Jesus and then they begin to listen to him.

The disciple whom Jesus loved recognized him. "It's the Lord!"  That's why Peter jumped into the water. Because he also recognized that it was Jesus. Sometimes we need someone who can help us recognize the presence of Christ in our lives, someone who can point out Jesus to us. I believe that it is part of my job as a priest, to help others see the presence of Christ in their lives. Others do it as well, a friend, a grandmother, someone who knows Christ who can tell us: "It's the Lord!"

As disciples we have to recognize that Jesus is in the midst of our lives. He is not far from us, he is here in our midst. He shares our concerns; he is aware of our needs. What does Jesus do for his disciples in the gospel. He does not start preaching at them, no he prepares breakfast for them. He knows that his disciples were working all night. They would be hungry, so he gets breakfast for them. This is the God I want, a God who cooks for me.

The first step is to recognize the presence Christ and second? Cast the nets. Which means we have to be fishers of men and women, we have to point Jesus out to others. Interesting in the gospel the fishing come first but the important thing is that we do both. This is what Pope Francis calls being a missionary disciple: we recognize Christ and that we help others to recognize him as well.

As I have said, you are missionaries first with your children and grandchildren, but we have to think bigger. We have an obligation to think of other Catholics who do not practice their faith; we have to think of those who do not yet know Christ. Now the Catholic Church is the largest church in the United States. We have the largest number of members in the US. But do you know what is the second largest group? Former Catholics. Those who had been members of our community. Which means we have a lot of work to do, we had better get fishing. You represent 10% of the Catholics in the community. Which means that if there are 400 here, there are another 4000 in our community, our neighbors, and members of our own families. We have to cast the nets and we will find a lot more than just 153 people.

One practical thing we are going to do this summer is that we are going to knock on doors; we are going to visit homes invite people to our Church and then celebrate mass in the neighborhood. If you won't come to us, we will come to you. If you want to help us if you want to have a mass in your house to invite your neighbors, talk to me.

In the Gospel Peter, Thomas Nathanael, the sons of Zebedee and two others returned to their former lives. They went back to fishing what they knew and when Jesus returns they did not recognize him. We do not have to follow their footsteps. We have to be missionary disciples. We recognize Jesus and then help others to recognize Jesus as well.