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The real test of a saint is not one’s willingness to preach the gospel, but one’s willingness to do something like washing the disciples’ feet - that is, being willing to do those things that seem unimportant in human estimation but count as everything to God.
- Oswald Chambers
(The "grunt work" matters. Embrace it lovingly this day.)
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ACTS 4:1-12; PS 118:1-2 AND 4, 22-24, 25-27A
JN 21:1-14
Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias.
He revealed himself in this way.
Together were Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus,
Nathanael from Cana in Galilee,
Zebedee's sons, and two others of his disciples.
Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing."
They said to him, "We also will come with you."
So they went out and got into the boat,
but that night they caught nothing.
When it was already dawn, Jesus was standing on the shore;
but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.
Jesus said to them, "Children, have you caught anything to eat?"
They answered him, "No."
So he said to them, "Cast the net over the right side of the boat
and you will find something."
So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in
because of the number of fish.
So the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord."
When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord,
he tucked in his garment, for he was lightly clad,
and jumped into the sea.
The other disciples came in the boat,
for they were not far from shore, only about a hundred yards,
dragging the net with the fish.
When they climbed out on shore,
they saw a charcoal fire with fish on it and bread.
Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish you just caught."
So Simon Peter went over and dragged the net ashore
full of one hundred fifty-three large fish.
Even though there were so many, the net was not torn.
Jesus said to them, "Come, have breakfast."
And none of the disciples dared to ask him, "Who are you?"
because they realized it was the Lord.
Jesus came over and took the bread and gave it to them,
and in like manner the fish.
This was now the third time Jesus was revealed to his disciples
after being raised from the dead.
USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture |
"Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke up." —Acts 4:8
On the day of Jesus' death, Peter denied Him three times. After receiving the Holy Spirit, however, Peter became a new person. He fearlessly obeyed the Lord even to being thrown into prison. At his trial before "Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly class" (Acts 4:6), Peter defied the religious leaders. He proclaimed that "Jesus is 'the Stone rejected by you the
builders Which has become the Cornerstone' " (Acts 4:11). The Holy Spirit transformed Peter into a powerful evangelist and the fearless leader of the newborn Church.
For Jesus' death to set us free and His resurrection to empower us, we need the Holy Spirit. To truly celebrate Easter as soon as possible, we need Pentecost as soon as possible. We don't have to wait for the Father and Son to pour out the Spirit on us. They are waiting for us to repent of any ways in which we may have stifled the Spirit (1 Thes 5:19). Then we will receive the Spirit (Acts 2:38). We will no
longer deny Jesus, but celebrate and proclaim Him risen from the dead. Alleluia! Come, Holy Spirit. Jesus is risen!
Prayer: Father, give me a thirst for the Spirit (Jn 7:37) and a new outpouring of the Spirit within three days.
Promise: "Many of those who had heard the speech believed; the number of the men came to about five thousand." —Acts 4:4
Presentation Ministries
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Abandonment to Divine Providence
- by Jean-Pierre de Caussade
CHAPTER II. THE DIVINE ACTION WORKS UNCEASINGLY FOR THE SANCTIFICATION OF SOULS.
SECTION X.God Makes Known His Will Through Creatures.
In the present moment are made manifest the name of God, and the coming of His Kingdom.
The present moment is the ambassador of God to declare His mandates. The heart listens and pronounces its “fiat.” Thus the soul advances by all these things and flows out from its centre to its goal. It never stops but sails with every wind. Any and every direction leads equally to the shore of infinity. Everything is a help to it, and is, without exception, an instrument of sanctity. The one thing necessary can always be found
for it in the present moment. It is no longer a choice between prayer and silence, seclusion and society, reading and writing, meditation and cessation of thought, flight from and seeking after spiritual consolations, abundance and dearth, feebleness and health, life and death, but it is all that each moment presents by the will of God. In this is despoilment, abnegation, renunciation of all things created, either in reality or affectively, in order to retain nothing of self, or for self, to be
in all things submissive to the will of God and to please Him; making it our sole satisfaction to sustain the present moment as though there were nothing else to hope for in the world.
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