Cornerstone in our challenge to be fishers

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today resonate with our sense of frustration at the apparent difficulty in our times to see Jesus Christ as the cornerstone for full life.

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In the Acts of the Apostles, the witness of Peter in preaching and action invokes the response of arrest by the authorities.

* [4:11] Early Christianity applied this citation from Ps 118:22 to Jesus; cf. Mk 12:10; 1 Pt 2:7.

The Resurrected Jesus calls the disciples from their retreat to fishing in Galilee to become fishers of people in the Gospel from John.

* [21:12] None…dared to ask him: is Jesus’ appearance strange to them? Cf. Lk 24:16; Mk 16:12; Jn 20:14. The disciples do, however, recognize Jesus before the breaking of the bread (opposed to Lk 24:35).

Tamora Whitney reflects that Jesus is the stone that they rejected, but he is the true cornerstone on which everything else depends.

What’s true is that he is the way. Arresting the disciples for talking about it doesn’t stop it from being true. Killing Jesus didn’t stop him from being the way. He rose. He is the cornerstone. He is the salvation.

Don Schwager shares the thoughts of Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D. about Jesus in His  Resurrected Body who is spiritual but still real flesh.

"The bodies of the righteous at the resurrection will need neither any fruit to preserve them from dying of disease or the wasting decay of old age nor any bodily nourishment to prevent hunger and thirst. For they will be endowed with such a sure and inviolable gift of immortality that they will not eat because they have to, but only if they want to. Not the power but the necessity of eating and drinking shall be taken away from them... just like our Savior after his resurrection took meat and drink with his disciples, with spiritual but still real flesh, not for the sake of nourishment, but in an exercise of his power." (excerpt from City of God 13.22)

Friar Jude Winkler ponders if the return to fishing by the Apostles was a rejection of their need to evangelize. Jesus nature miracle of a harvest of 153 species is a symbol of their call to be fishers of all people. Friar Jude notes the introduction of fish in this Eucharistic meeting.

Pope Francis has recently reminded us that when we leave Mass, we leave with more life, with more strength and desire to bear Christian witness.

Pope Francis said the Eucharist is key to living an authentic Christian witness.

“While the Mass ends, the commitment for Christian witness opens. We leave the church to go in peace to bring the blessing of God to our daily activities, to our homes, to our work, to the affairs of the earthly city, glorifying the Lord with our lives,” the pope said April 4.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, revisits distorted ideas about Flesh. It is not bad, it is just inadequate to the final and full task, while posing as the real thing.

Sarx or ego is the self that tries to define itself autonomously, apart from spirit, apart from the Big Self in God. It’s the tiny self that you think you are, who takes yourself far too seriously, and who is always needy and wanting something else. It’s the self that is characterized by scarcity and fragility—and well it should be, because it’s finally an illusion and passing away. It changes month by month. This small self doesn’t really exist in God’s eyes as anything substantial or real. It’s nothing but a construct of your own mind. It is exactly what will die when you die.

Much of the reflection today connects to this idea from Fr. Richard. “Don’t hate your training wheels once you take them off your bicycle. You should thank them for getting you started on your cycling journey!”

Reflections


(n.d.). Acts, chapter 4 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved April 6, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/acts4:56

(n.d.). John 21:18. Retrieved April 6, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/john/john21.htm

(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved April 6, 2018, from http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/

(n.d.). Aleteia English - Pope Francis: When we leave Mass, leave.... Retrieved April 6, 2018, from https://www.facebook.com/AleteiaEn/videos/1003533546477962/ 

(2018, April 4). Pope Francis: We should leave every Mass better than we entered. Retrieved April 6, 2018, from https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-francis-we-should-leave-every-mass-better-than-when-we-went-in-74335

(2017, December 30). 2018 Daily Meditations - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved April 6, 2018, from https://cac.org/2018-daily-meditations/