Friday in the Octave of Easter [265] Acts 4:1-12 Ps 118:1-2+4, 22-24, 25-27a John 21:1-14

Celebrating Easter Daily Easter Prayer Weekly Guide for Daily Prayer Student Daily Reflection

Eat a good breakfast. That’s the common advice to get your day started off right. Breakfast offers fuel to get you going, to help face the challenges and joys of the day. Today’s gospel made me think of that adage. Jesus has died and risen, and his disciples are figuring out what to do now. Fishing is what they know and they have to eat. It’s not until Jesus appears to them that they catch anything and then the number of fish is amazing. They pull the catch ashore and prepare fish and bread with Jesus. He appears to them where they are. He helps them make a good breakfast to face the challenges and the joys that await them that day.

Just as Jesus appeared to the disciples in the midst of their work and their attempt at fishing, God is with me where I am. I can invite his presence in the morning while I eat my toast or my oatmeal. As breakfast helps ready me for the day ahead, my prayers can help fuel my spirit and my heart, to open myself to ask for God’s help to meet the challenges and to recognize the joys. I want to be ready to thank God for all I have.  

The disciples and apostles had to get used to the reality of the resurrected Jesus. My prayer is that I build my own life on that cornerstone. How do I reflect the reality of the resurrected Jesus in my own life? How will I celebrate the resurrected Jesus in my own life today and everyday? “This is the day the Lord has made; let us be glad and rejoice in it.” Let me be ready to face the day with fuel for my spirit and my heart.