Weekly thoughts on the Sunday Gospel, readings or a topic...

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seeing your life through the lens of the gospels – John 21:1-19
1. The disciples spend a fruitless night fishing and catching nothing. Things change dramatically when Jesus appears and invites them to try again. Remember those who came to you and encouraged you to try again when you felt discouraged. Perhaps on some of these occasions the results were beyond your expectations.
2. The story can serve as a reminder that sometimes we are wasting our time if we try to work on our own without the Lord’s help. When have you found that your work or life was more fruitful when you acknowledged that you needed God’s help and you spoke to God about your need?
3. After his denials during the passion, Peter is given the chance to be fully reconciled with his Master. Remember those who have given you an opportunity for reconciliation after you had hurt them or let them down. What was it like for you to be given this chance? To whom have you offered the possibility of reconciliation?  – John Byrne, OSA

The Deep End
The theme of light and darkness in John’s Gospel is strong. In today’s reading, we hear that it was ‘just after daybreak’ when Jesus appeared to the disciples. The disciples had been fishing all night but caught nothing. Then, with the dawn, Jesus appears on the beach and gently suggests that they cast the nets on the other side of the boat. We are invited to reflect on resurrection here, moments where we were given a sense of new life, and with that, an abundance of gifts. Perhaps a friendship had broken down or we were dealing with a crisis. Like the disciples, we may have simply been going through the motions of day to day life, in the dark, without much enthusiasm. And then... daybreak. A gentle voice guided us, a friend or in a moment of prayer. In time, we realised that this was Jesus’ voice pointing us in the right direction, and once we allowed ourselves to be guided by Him, the ‘catch’ was huge.
The end of the passage sees Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him. Peter is once again by a charcoal fire so this scene mirrors the three denials of Peter during the trial of Jesus. Peter becomes upset, and one can understand the regrets he must have. Yet here, Jesus is giving Peter the space to undo his denials. There is healing, new life. We can imagine Jesus’ question to Peter at the end of the passage being addressed to us: ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?… Tend my sheep!’ Place yourself in this story throughout the week.  – Jane Mellett

(from Intercom)