In the gospel for this Sunday, we continue to hear about and reflect on the post resurrection
accounts or encounters of Jesus with his disciples. In most of these encounters, if not all including this one in the gospel, Jesus was not easily recognized by his Disciples — they had a hard time knowing and
sensing that it was the Lord who was in their midst. This is something that really intrigues me. After
being with Jesus for three years day and night, after accompanying Jesus to all his missionary works and healing ministries, one would expect that the disciples would recognize him easily because the
resurrected Christ is the same Jesus that was with them before the resurrection. Same thing happened with Mary Magdalene when Christ first appeared to her— she was not able to recognize the Lord in an instant. It must have been a horrible feeling. Recognition and non-recognition seems to be an
important theme in the gospel for today. To be recognized is a basic human longing or need.
Imagine yourself entering into a room or at a party and nobody smiles or even recognizes your presence. How does a son or daughter feel when he or she is begging to be recognized, loved, cared for and understood by their mother or father? Or what would a wife feel if a husband just neglected her and brushed her off as if she didn’t exist at home? How does an elderly parent feel when she is left alone in a nursing facility and doesn’t hear anything from their children for months? To be recognized and to be connected is a basic human need. Even Christ, who doesn’t need anything outside himself because he is God, wanted to be recognized by his disciples. God in the midst of his self-sufficiency wants our attention too. He wants to be recognized by us and wants us to enter into a profound relationship with Him. This recognition that God demands from us cannot just be sustained by purely resorting to external manifestations of faith or by confining ourselves purely to rituals and pieties. Yes, we can find and recognize God through the beautiful and solemn wrappings of the liturgy.
Yes, God is here right now in our midst in a very, very special way through the Eucharist. But we must also see him in the faces of one another, in the person next to you, in the person whom we might not be comfortable relating with, in the person who might have different religious convictions from ours; he is also in the countless men and women who are fighting for justice, in those who are suffering from sickness, and in those who are struggling to find meaning in life. Just as what Jesus himself said "whatever you do to the least of your brothers and sisters, you do it to me." If we can find peace, tranquility and the nearness to God in the Church, we must also be able to find and make it happen in the way we relate to others, in the way we lead our lives, in the way we build up our own families, in the way we conduct ourselves at work and in the community. The liturgy, theEucharist, does not stop at the confines of the Church. We come here as one community of faith, knowing that we will bring with us the graces and blessings of the Eucharist to make a difference in our own lives and in the lives of others. That is why every Mass is not the same; it is not Mass as usual because every liturgy brings new life, new hope and new beginning to each and every one of us.
In the gospel, we heard Jesus asking Peter several times or for three times "Simon Peter, do you love me?" And Peter replied "Yes Lord you know that I love you." Despite the betrayal, denial and unfaithfulness of Peter, Jesus did not ask "Peter, are you going to betray me again next time?" "Are you going to deny me again next time?" Jesus did not dwell on the weakness and the betrayal of Peter. Jesus’ question to Peter was for Peter to realize what he is capable of - that he is capable of loving and of feeding the flock - of leading others to Christ despite his frailty and weakness. Jesus gave Peter a second chance, a new opportunity to reform his life, to make it right again. The same question is being asked of God to each one of us "John, Mike, Pam, Father Cary, do you love me more than this? Just like with Peter, when Christ asks us that question, he is not looking at our past and our sinfulness, but at what we are capable for - our capacity to love, our capacity to forgive, our capacity to be life-giving to others. The hope is that we will be able to respond with Peter - "Yes Lord, you know that I love you." - Fr. Cary