today is the 3rd sunday of easter. the risen JEsus appeared to his disciples for the 3rd time...and prepared breakfast for them.
i have 2 points to share this afternoon basing the gospel. first point: "Jesus said to them, cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something..." prior to this verse the apostles were fishing yet caught nothing...
all of us here desires to live a bountiful life-a fruitful and meaningful life. the gospel today reveals to us the secret path to such a life. it is only with the Lord's direction that one can truly attain a fruitful life. always remember, what the gospel tells us...fisshing was their expertise but that night, tey caught nothing. when it was dawn the risen Lord directed them to cast their net...they caught a large number of fish...
my dear bros. and sisters in Christ we cannot boast of our expertise, skills, talents, and know-how. they do not guarantee that we can be fruitful in what we do in life.
a 'large catch', a bountiful and meaningful life, is achieved when our expertise is under the direction of the Lord. apart from him our abilities can be disoriented, our life empty.
"DYLAN WILK STORY"
onlyin the posture of humility that we can listen to God's directions and eventually enjoy a truly blesssed bountiful life.
do i listen to God's directions? or do i stubbornly and arrogantly insist on doing things my way?
2nd point: do you love me? a questioned of JEsus to Simon Peter...this question is not hard enough to answer if your spouse is asking this question, or your suitor, friend, parent,etc...but this truly a difficult question to answer with all honesty especially if Jesus is the one asking this question...DO YOU LOVE ME?
an honest evaluation of ourselves will most likely render us incapable of giving a categorical yes. we love the LOrd, but we know full well that our human heart is fikcle, forgetful,unfaithful, and many times coward. towards the end of today's gospel episode, Jesus confronts Peter with this hard question: 'do you love me more than these?' Peter has to answer this 3 times! same number of times he has denied the Lord just before the crucifixion! what a grilling moment this is for Peter! but this is a moment of grace too. the triple question of the master is to allow Peter to undo his tripple profession of love. such is the Lord's graciousness.
during the season of easter, the question of Jesus, 'do you love me?' is directed personally to each one of us. the Lord would like to know whether or not we love him selflessly and unceasingly. it is nice to be with Jesus when everything is going fine, when life is comfortable, or when fortunes and blessings keep coming. but what happens when our faith is tested, when our christian life is becoming rough or when persecutions come our way? like Peter, we might find it difficult to promise the Lord. even so, Jesus remains confident that sooner or later we would develop the same kind of love that finally led the apostles to give their life toally for the service of God.
"STORY OF GUERILLA"
my dear bros. and sisters...election is fast approaching and Jesus is asking us, DO YOU LOVE ME? may this question enlightens our mind and heart to chose whose right person to govern our nation and town. let us have the courage to stand up for our beliefs like what the pastor and few christians did in the story...may the result of this coming election a fruit of our love to him. AMEN
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