Homily for the Third Sunday of Easter, Year C

Eucharist: The Best Breakfast Ever!

Homily for the Third Sunday of Easter, Year C

Rev. Marcel Emeka Okwara, CSsR

St. Mary of Assumption Church, Whittier, CA

Sunday, April 10, 2016

The Gospel of John 21:1-19 accomplishes several goals: it reasserts the authenticity of Jesus’ resurrection, gives a glance into the lives of the disciples who were saddened by the sudden ‘loss’ of their Leader, provides a do over for Peter, and also establishes him as the undisputed leader of the emergent community that Jesus has set up. In my sermon last Sunday, I said that the resurrection of Jesus is not a hoax, that it is not a creation of the Early Church, and that it did happen. Jesus did not want his disciples to see his resurrection purely as a “spiritual” reality that only gives them a “sense” of his presence, but also as an event that truly happened; that he is truly risen physically. Once his friends are convinced of it, they can talk about it wherever they go, write about it, and transmit their experience to the generations after them. Why? So that all may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief, all may have life in his name (John 20:31).

Jesus’ ‘loss’ was a painful experience to his disciples. But after a period of hiding and mourning, they felt a sense of need to return to their previous profession, at least, to quicken their emotional healing. So, Peter said to the disciples with him, “I am going fishing” (John 21:3). Fishing was his profession before Jesus called him. When he said that, Thomas, Nathanael, James, John (Zebedee sons) and two other unnamed disciples responded, “We will also come with you.” With that, they set out to the sea. Throughout the night, they worked and toiled but caught nothing. By sunrise, they were getting ready to go home when a Stranger showed up by the seashore and said to them, “Children, have you caught anything to eat?” He called grown men “children.” Surprisingly, they were not offended because in this case, it was a term of affection for someone who is treasured in the way a parent treasures a child. On learning that they had not been lucky, he filled their net with fish. John suddenly recognized him, “It is the Lord.” But Jesus was not done with them. He also made breakfast for them.

As we already know, breakfast is the first meal of a day, often eaten in the morning before undertaking the day’s work. There’s a general agreement that it is the most important meal of the day. Breakfast meal is good for the body. But we are not only a body. Every human person is a composite—body and soul (spirit). As important as breakfast is for the human body, the Eucharist, Jesus’ gift of himself is also important and exceedingly too. The spiritual aspect of the human person is what really gives life to the body. When a soul is well fed and deeply nourished, the body becomes a vehicle that communicates God’s love and glory. Other material food we eat only blends with our body and gives it a momentary energy to function. But the Eucharist, Jesus’ breakfast, makes us the body of Christ and gives real life to the body and soul. It gives us strength even in weakness. It is the Food for the journey. When a soul is malnourished, a person begins to die. At every Mass, Jesus is really present to nourish our lives with his teaching and with his Body and Blood. He feeds us in the Eucharist in ways that are beyond our imagination. The Eucharist does not just renew our bodies, it gives us a new body by making us the body of Christ itself. It brings us into union with Christ and with one another. It is our breakfast no matter the time we receive it in the sense of what it does for us and its extreme importance. Without eating in the morning (i.e. breakfast), the body may not be all set to begin the activity of the day. That first meal gives us the energy and nutrition we need to begin the day. Without the Eucharist, without partaking in the Lord’s breakfast, we may not be able to confront and win the trials and temptations that come with life. Just as we need food to begin our day, we also need Jesus to begin our day, even more. Those Catholics who, for various reasons, have stayed away from the Lord’s breakfast, you are truly missing the spiritual strength and power that only his Body and Blood can give. You are missing in this union with the Lord. You are excluding yourself from becoming a new body— the body of Christ. As Jesus said to Peter, James, John, Nathanael, Thomas etc, “Come, have breakfast” he also says to us. Don’t turn him down. Don’t reject this amazing breakfast. 

Another news that should delight us can be found in this Gospel. After the arrest of Jesus, Peter was confronted thrice with a fact, “You also were with that Nazarene”  (Luke 14:67b) but thrice he denied knowing Jesus. For a man who ate and dinned with Jesus, who witnessed so many miracles, signs and wonders he performed to deny publicly of knowing him is huge. That’s something, folks! But we serve an awesome God who bears with us even when we go adrift. He’s a second-chance giving God. Peter denied Jesus thrice, and thrice Jesus offered him a second chance to redeem himself: “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” To that question, Peter’s reply was, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” In the same manner, Jesus uses the 7 sacraments of the Church to offer us a second chance to redeem ourselves. Using Baptism, he asks, “Do you really love me when you accepted to share my life with me in baptism?” If yes is the answer, he says to us, “Live out your baptismal promises! In the Eucharist, he asks, “Do you really love me to be in union with me?” If yes is the answer, he urges us, “Become what you eat.” In Confirmation, he asks, “Do you really love me when you accepted to become my witnesses?” If yes is the answer, he says, “Make disciples for me; announce my good news to all” In Marriage, he asks, “Do you love me enough to invite me into your relationship?” If yes is the answer, he says, “Make it happen if you haven’t done so. And if you have, keep me in that relationship, and I will help you to turn it into a family. The family is where I want to dwell.” In the sacrament of Reconciliation, he asks, “Do you love me more than others to recognize when you have offended me?” If yes is the answer, he says, “Then apologize to me! Tell me you are sorry, and I will forgive you.” In the Anointing of the sick, he asks, “Do you love me still, even in sickness?” If yes is the answer, he replies, “Then invite me to visit you at your sick bed; I will come with healing in my hands.” In Holy Orders, he asks, “Do you love me more than the rest to be praying and supporting my priests? Do you love me enough as to encourage your kids, grand-kids and young people around you to consider the priesthood or religious life? If yes is the answer, he says, “Pray for my priests. Support them. Be kind and generous to them. Forgive them when they err. Do not expect too much from them. Promote vocation too.”