Dear friends,<\/p>\n
Happy Easter!\u00a0 On this 3rd<\/sup> Sunday of Easter, the Church presents another Gospel story of Jesus appearing to His Apostles. In this passage from John, it appears the Apostles have gone back to life before Jesus. The majority of the Apostles were fishermen. Once called by Jesus to follow him, Jesus told Peter that he would no longer catch fish, but people. Jesus was to show the Apostles the way to fish for souls. Over a period of years, Jesus paved the way for the Apostles to start the Church after His death. In these weeks of Easter, we recall how their first response to the Crucifixion was fear and hiding. Jesus appears to the Apostles in Jerusalem and tells them to return home to Galilee. After returning home, in some ways it appears they settled back to their old lives. The Gospel this weekend has Peter going back to fishing with the other Apostles. In some ways it might be understandable that they didn\u2019t know what to do next, but in another it seems they are settling back into a previous life. Peter, out on the boat, realizes the Risen Christ is on the shore, jumps into the sea to swim. This urgency and desire to be with Jesus is beautiful. The questions that follow tell the real story of the encounter.<\/p>\n After breakfast, Jesus asked Peter, \u201cDo you love me?\u201d Three times Jesus asks Peter this question and three times Peter responds, \u201cYes, Lord, you know I love you.\u201d The story than takes on its meaning. Peter is to feed, tend and care for the sheep of Jesus. With this exchange, Jesus makes it clear that service of Jesus and His Church would require everything Peter had to give, even his life. And this call to serve the Church wouldn\u2019t happen by returning to fishing, or returning to a former way of life. One of the simple truths of the Gospels is that an encounter with Jesus changes your life, not just for a day, but forever. After the prayer, fasting and almsgiving of Lent, our lives are supposed to be different forever. The challenge of Christian conversion, is to never return to what we were before the journey started. Like Peter, we are tempted to go back, but the Easter joy reminds us that a change of life in Christ is about eternity. No matter how big or small our spiritual growth was this past Lent into Easter, may the Lord continue the good work in all of us.<\/p>\n