Photo was taken last evening near Bantry, West Cork (Irl)

A beautiful skyline was particularly eye catching on the Glengarriff Road coming into Bantry

Thought on Sunday – May – 05/05/2019

Thought For Today by Jane Mellett called ‘Come and Have Breakfast’

The theme of light and darkness in John’s Gospel is strong. In today’s reading, we hear that it was ‘just after daybreak’ when Jesus appeared to the disciples. The disciples had been fishing all night but caught nothing. Then, with the dawn, Jesus appears on the beach and gently suggests that they cast the nets on the other side of the boat. We are invited to reflect on resurrection here, moments where we were given a sense of new life, and with that, an abundance of gifts.

Perhaps a friendship had broken down or we were dealing with a crisis. Like the disciples, we may have simply been going through the motions of day to day life, in the dark, without much enthusiasm. And then daybreak. A gentle voice guided us, a friend or in a moment of prayer. In time, we realised that this was Jesus’ voice pointing us in the right direction, and once we allowed ourselves to be guided by Him, the ‘catch’ was huge.

The end of the passage sees Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him. Peter is once again by a charcoal fire so this scene mirrors the three denials of Peter during the trial of Jesus. Peter becomes upset, and one can understand the regrets he must have. Yet here, Jesus is giving Peter the space to undo his denials. There is healing, new life. We can imagine Jesus’ question to Peter at the end of the passage being addressed to us: ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?… Tend my sheep!’ Place yourself in this story throughout the week.