Sunday Homilies by Fr. Rudolf V. D’ Souza

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Third Sunday of Easter 2007

April 22, Year: C

Acts 5:27-32, 40b-1; Rev. 5:11-4; Jn. 21:1-19

First Reading...
"The captain went with the temple police and brought the apostles, who were teaching in the temple, and had them stand before the council. The high priest questioned the apostles, saying, 'We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man's blood on us.

But Peter and the apostles answered, 'We must obey God rather than any human authority. The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Saviour that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.'

Then the council ordered the apostles not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. As they left the council, they rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer dishonour for the sake of the name." [Acts 5:27-32, 40-1]

Second Reading...
"I, John, looked, and I heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne and the living creatures and the elders; they numbered myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, singing with full voice, 'Worthy is the Lord that was slaughtered to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing!'

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, singing, 'To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honour and glory and might forever and every. And the four living creatures said, 'Amen!' And the elders fell down and worshipped." [Rev. 5:11-4]

Gospel Reading...
"Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, 'I am going fishing.' They said to him, 'We will go with you.' They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, 'Children, you have no fish, have you?' They answered him, 'No.' He said to them, 'Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.' So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish.

That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, 'It is the Lord!' When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about ninety metres off.

When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread, Jesus said to them, 'Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.' So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, 'Come and have breakfast.' Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, 'Who are you?' because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was not the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?' He said to him, 'Yes, Lord; you know that I love you," Jesus said to him, 'Feed my lambs.'

A second time he said to him, 'Simon son of John, do you love me?' He said to him, 'Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, 'Tend my sheep.'

He said to him the third time, 'Simon son of John, do you love me?' Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, 'Do you love me?' And he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Feed my sheep. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.'

He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God. After this he said to him, 'Follow me.'" [Jn. 21:1- 19]

How great is Our God
How happy we feel when someone tells us that he/she loves us. We feel a kind of intoxicating experience and we are spontaneously grateful. How happy then, we should be when God asking us ‘do you love me’? Isn’t it astounding that God who is almighty should be concerned about us? When we think of how big the universe is, it is even more astounding that we are so important to God. Our solar system with the sun at the center and the eight planets (maybe seven now) revolving around it, is just one solar system in our galaxy called the Milky Way. The Milky Way may have 100,000 million solar systems similar to our own i.e. 100,000 million suns with their own planets. It is 100,000 lights years in diameter. The Milky Way is just one galaxy in the universe which is thought to contain about 8,000,000,000 (Eight thousand million galaxies). It is truly beyond our comprehension. We are indeed nothing by comparison with the immense universe around us, but in fact we are more important than all the solar systems, all the galaxies and the entire universe itself because we are God’s beloved children. 

The earth orbiting the sun is a ball of rock 7800 miles in diameter (approximately 12,740 Kms). Its centre is molten iron and nickel thought to be approximately 4,500 degrees Celsius. The Sun is a gigantic nuclear power station, thought to be 6000 degrees Celsius at its surface and 15 million degrees Celsius at its centre. The earth is just one of the planets orbiting the sun. 

The whole of this wonderful cosmos speaks of God’s love…
God has a wonderful plan for us, in this might and extraordinary cosmos of millions, trillions and zillions of celestial bodies, and that plan is Jesus - salvation through the passion, death and resurrection.

Unconditional Love - motivating story
A story is told about a soldier who was finally coming home after having fought in Vietnam. He called his parents from San Francisco.

"Mom and Dad, I'm coming home, but I've a favour to ask. I have a friend I'd like to bring home with me."

"Sure," they replied, "we'd love to meet him."

"There's something you should know the son continued, "he was hurt pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a land mind and lost an arm and a leg. He has nowhere else to go, and I want him to come live with us."

"I'm sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live."

"No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us."

"Son," said the father, "you don't know what you're asking. Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us. We have our own lives to live, and we can't let something like this interfere with our lives. I think you should just come home and forget about this guy. He'll find a way to live on his own."

At that point, the son hung up the phone. The parents heard nothing more from him. A few days later, however, they received a call from the San Francisco police. Their son had died after falling from a building, they were told. The police believed it was suicide. The grief-stricken parents flew to San Francisco and were taken to the city morgue to identify the body of their son. They recognized him, but to their horror they also discovered something they didn't know, their son had only one arm and one leg.

The parents in this story are like many of us. We find it easy to love those who are good-looking or fun to have around, but we don't like people who inconvenience us or make us feel uncomfortable. We would rather stay away from people who aren't as healthy, beautiful, or smart as we are. Thankfully, there's someone who won't treat us that way. Someone who loves us with an unconditional love that welcomes us into the forever family, regardless of how messed up we are.

Peter’s Confession
Jesus asks Peter three times “do you love me”? Well, anybody would be annoyed at this question, repeatedly asked. But, Peter answers them. God loves us in spite of our sinfulness. He does not keep a record of wrongdoings. He just forgives us because of his love for us.

If we find it difficult to accept ourselves with our faults and failings, then its no wonder we find it difficult to believe that God can forgive our faults and failings.  What happened to Peter can happen to us also if we have the faith to accept God’s love and acceptance of us.  Jesus forgives us in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and accepts us after we have denied him, after we have disbelieved, after we have given up, after we have sinned. It takes an act of faith to believe in God, and it takes an act of faith to believe that God forgives us and accepts us and our repentance after sin.  Sometimes faith is the courage to accept acceptance, the courage to accept God’s forgiveness and acceptance of ourselves.  Peter recovered his faith after his despair, he was able to say “Yes Lord, you know that I love you”.  So let us not allow the past to overcome us like Judas.  Instead let us be like Peter and repent and reform ourselves and allow the Lord to put us to work for him again.  I will conclude with some beautiful words from Psalm 40(39)

Do You Love Me?
During today's reading from the Gospel of John, [Jn. 21:1-19] we heard Jesus asking Peter on three different occasions, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" And three times, Peter affirmed his loyalty to Jesus, promising to serve Him, even to death. The Lord's threefold question that demanded a threefold profession of love from Peter was in response to Peter's threefold denial. Undoubtedly, Peter knew that he was being reminded that on three past occasions, he denied knowing the Lord Jesus.

Knowing the transformation that took part in the heart of Peter since the Resurrection, Jesus believed him and transferred His authority to him. When Jesus said three times, "Feed My sheep", he was commissioning Peter to lead the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church that He Himself had instituted on earth. At that moment, Jesus surrendered His own office of Shepherd to Peter. At that moment, it became the destiny of Peter to follow the Good Shepherd in every detail, even to the laying down of his life. [Jn. 10:11]

There are other parts of the Gospel Reading that are worthy of mentioning because they are symbolic in nature.

While there are no explanation given as to why the disciples suddenly departed from Jerusalem to return to their former way of life as fishermen, it can be said that the role of fishing symbolizes the apostolic mission.

When Jesus said to cast the nets on the right side of the boat, this was symbolic of the authority of the High Priest who guides the Church. When the Apostles obeyed the advise of Jesus, this echoed the complete submission of the ministers of the Word of God who are called to be fisher of men.

When we consider that it was Jesus who prepared the meal, we are reminded of the multiplication of the five barley loaves and the two fish when Jesus fed five thousands. [Jn. 6:9] In turn, this is a sign of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, the distribution of the life of the Spirit.

Finally my brothers and sisters in Christ, by our presence here today to receive the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, we are publicly showing our loyalty to Jesus. Through the reception of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, we are professing our faith in the Divine Presence of Jesus manifested in the Living Bread. By our presence here today, we are saying to Jesus, "My Lord, all authority is Yours! You are my Lord and my God! Guide me! I humbly obey Your commission!" How great is our God and who has come to us in Jesus. Well, this itself is a great miracle and then Jesus offers himself in the Holy Eucharist, another miracle. In this immense universe, we feel we are invited to partake of the divine meal, which we are certainly unworthy of. We are so important to God because he will never forget us, why? He has carved our names on the palm of His Hand. 

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