May 3

My father’s eyes were aglow as he described his fishing trip to Alaska: the greenness of the trees, the cold spiciness of the air, the gleamy shimmer of the fish. Yet his eyes were most lively as he told of the guide cleaning a freshly caught halibut and pan searing it over an open fire, a short distance from the lapping water on a crystal lake.
This memory of my father’s delight resurfaced as I read this passage from Nora Gallagher’s  Practicing Resurrection: “At the end of John's Gospel, there is a small resurrection appearance, hardly worth a mention against the others, no locked doors, no vanishing acts. Peter and his crew are out fishing – it's after Jesus had died and one imagines them sorrowful, empty. They've caught nothing. And then a man from shore yells out to them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat. Dubious – they've tried this – they try it again and catch so many fish their nets begin to break. Peter recognizes his lord, jumps into the water, and swims to him. And when he gets there, Jesus is cooking fish on the beach. … Jesus … the man who calls out to us from the shore, the man who cooks breakfast after a long night of work. After his death he is a more humble man; he doesn't heal … he does not proclaim himself either the son of man or much of anything else. The gist of what he says is mild and low: love one another, forgive each other, feed each other.”
No wonder the disciples were so willing to follow the Risen Lord. Who would not want to follow a leader who is so humble, so kind, so loving?  May Christ be our guide.