Easter 5th S,May 22,11

Easter5th S,May22,11

(Jn.21:1-14)

Thomas Merton, in one of his beautiful works called “Thoughts in Solitude”, speaks of the richness of emptiness and poverty. It is only when one is totally poor and helpless that one can experience the presence of God in one’s life. Everything then becomes precious and valuable. “As long as we remain poor, as long as we are empty and interested in nothing but God, we cannot be distracted….Let me seek the gift of silence and poverty, where everything I touch is turned into prayer: where the sky is my prayer, the birds are my prayer, the wind in the trees is my prayer, for God is all in all.”

Today’s Gospel brings before us an event in the life of the apostles where their total isolation and listlessness help them to see the Lord in his risen glory.

The disciples, in spite of their stupendous experience of the risen Jesus, still had not grasped the full implications of the resurrection of Jesus and of his abiding presence in the world. Nor did they have any idea about the great role they had to play in spreading the message of Christ. The memory of all the three years spent with Jesus and of all the great things that happened in their lives because of their association with Him was slowly fading and they began to pursue their customary ways of life.

It was, then, that Peter told them that he was going fishing. Others joined him. They worked hard but caught nothing. Then, they heard the voice of Jesus asking them whether they had caught anything. When they replied in the negative, Jesus asked them to cast the net on the right side of the boat .To their surprise, they caught a large number of fish .It was then that the disciple that Jesus loved, John, uttered the words: “ It is the Lord.”

All of a sudden the situation changed. Peter jumped into the water to swim to Jesus and the other disciples followed him. They saw their beloved Lord, standing before them and inquiring about their needs. He sat with them and shared bread and fish with them. They did not ask any questions. They did not entertain any doubts about the reality of his risen life. They were happy that they could experience His presence again in their lives.

What surprises us is that it was when they felt very low and dispirited that they were able to experience the presence of Jesus. They were bored and confused. They went fishing and caught nothing. It was in that moment of total helplessness and emptiness that they were able to see Jesus.

What this passage reminds us is that our helpless moments, our hours of boredom, our moments of confusion are the occasions of grace for us. It is when we feel that we are not very important or others are not giving us enough attention that we become worthy in the eyes of Jesus. Our emptiness enables us to experience the presence of God more powerfully and deeply. When sicknesses and failures haunt us, when disasters and loss of fame and friendships makes us diffident about life, we hear the words of Jesus from distance: “Cast the net on the right side of the boat.” We then hear his soothing words: “Come, have some breakfast.”

Today’s Gospel makes us aware that our Lord will never abandon us and that he is permanently solicitous about our well-being. He is the only one in the world in whom we can put all our hopes and dreams. He will guide us to the right places. That is why we can say with psalmist even in the darkest moments of our lives: “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.”

The words of Jesus help us to be confident and strong in our faith and hopes. Jesus will always be there to support us in our times of sadness, sufferings, failures and disasters. His hands will always be stretched out to us when we begin to sink in the troubled waters of life.

Like, Jesus, we too should turn out to be channels of grace to people who work with us. Instead of criticizing and pointing out their faults and failures, we should encourage and support them. We have to enhance the creative talents of the people who work and live with us. May our forgiveness and compassion help others to experience the presence of Jesus.

Easter 11

Easter,Apr.24,11

Jn.20.1-18

Easter always arouses in our hearts feelings of hope and joy. The spring is around us. There is more day light and there is a silent stirring in the hidden lives of plants and trees. Flowers and leaves are about to explode into their full bloom before our eyes soon. Nature which was hiding under the cover of the shadow of winter is coming out in its full power and glory. It is natural for one to feel exuberant and happy at this time.

The passage from the Gospel is a marvelous account of the impact of the resurrection.

There was a feeling of emptiness, helplessness, of sorrow, of having lost everything among the disciples. May Magdalene came to the tomb to pay her final respects and to embalm the body again. It id not cross her mind that Jesus would rise from the tomb The apostles also did not think that Jesus would arise. If Jesus were God, he would have struck the soldiers dead and would not have allowed himself to die so shamefully, they thought. They were engaged in their routine tasks of their daily lives, but kept the company of one another.

May found an empty tomb. She right away thought that they had taken him away. She rushed to the Apostles. She did not say he was risen but only that they had taken the Lord away.

The apostles ran to the tomb, for another meeting with failure and disaster. But when they came, they looked into the tomb and found all the clothes neatly folded. It struck them all of a sudden that Jesus was not taken away but that He had risen. All the words of Jesus about His resurrection came alive in their minds. They believed.

May stood crying and looking for Jesus. Then, Jesus appeared to her. Jesus called her in the way he always called her: “Mary.” That was enough for her to recognize Jesus. She heard the same voice and the same tone. She could not stand the ground any more. Joyfully she burst out: “Teacher.”

She came back and told the apostles: “I have seen the Lord.”

It is in emptiness, loneliness and in suffering that we can experience the Lord.

We often think of our failures and sufferings as painful situations. But they are the events that open the door of life to Jesus. Once we experience Him in these situations, nothing can take away the joy from our life.

Through our failures, tragedies, painful and agonizing events…when things turn bad for us, when others insult us, when we are not appreciated, when we think we cannot do anything and that we don’t have the talents…. Jesus comes into our lives, calls us by our name and lets us know that He loves us.

The resurrection of Jesus gives us hope, hope that no one can take way from our lives---hope that grows and strengthens our lives.

Resurrection is the corner stone of our faith. St. Paul said: “ If Christ had not risen, our faith would be in vain.”(1Cor.15:15) If Jesus had not arisen, his life would be similar to that of any prophets or teachers the world has seen. Jesus established his power over death and destruction---proved himself to be the Lord of the Universe through his Resurrection.

Empty tomb is a challenge to all of us to reawaken our faith in Jesus It is a call for a total assent from our part to His presence in our midst.

Jesus speaks to each one of us as he spoke to Thomas: “Come and put your finger in my wounds and believe.” It is a call to faith. If we believe in the resurrection of Jesus , believe in his presence in our midst, then our attitudes and behavior would definitely have to undergo deep change.

For many of us, resurrection has not happened as a personal experience. We remain entombed in our selfishness. The tomb has to become empty today. The stone of indifference has to be rolled away from our lives. The dazzling spectacle of Jesus rising from the tomb of selfishness has to happen in our lives.