Thursday, April 5, 2018

Friday within Easter Octave, 06-04-18

Acts 4:1-12 / John 21:1-14

Just a week ago, we were right in the middle of the Paschal Triduum and there were so many things to prepare for and so many things happening.

Well, Easter has come and gone, and unlike Christmas, there is not much festive mood about it, and there is no talk of having to lose weight after Easter.

Anyway the season of Lent is already sober and sombre enough, with all that emphasis on prayer and penance and abstinence.

So things are back to normal and the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus seems to be quite ordinary although it is often called the greatest celebration of our faith.

Even for the disciples in the gospel, things seemed to have gone back to normal and the ordinary.

Even though Jesus had already appeared to them twice after His Resurrection, life hasn't changed much for them and they went back to fishing.

But then, even what they thought was ordinary and normal wasn't going to be anymore. They went fishing, and they were supposed to catch something but caught nothing.

But it was in that emptiness for the ordinary that the Risen Jesus appeared to them again. And the gospel made it a point to say it was the third appearance of the Risen Jesus, and things are going to change.

So even though the celebration of Easter is over and things seems to be going back to ordinary, let us also prepare to encounter the Risen Jesus in the ordinary.

Especially even when doing ordinary things that don't seem to have much meaning. That's when Jesus will come up with something. That's what His Resurrection does for us - giving meaning to ordinary things.