After the torture and execution of their companion, the disciples were broken.  In terror, they had run away and abandoned Jesus.  Was his blood on their hands also?  With trauma, time stands still.  How will I ever live again?  As always, God does not abandon us.  After the resurrection, Jesus returns to bring healing to his friends and restore them to life.  In the company of the broken-hearted, he makes our mission clear: go forth and do the same.

What is amazing?  When one crippled from birth can leap for joy, all are amazed.  When Jesus shows us power greater than death, we are overwhelmed.   Awe takes us far from the ordinary.  We may seek the source of mystery up the steep mountain, away in the desert, behind the cloister wall, past the stars, beyond the finite.  On this journey, mystery may open up like an abyss that swallows the ordinary.  To grow closer to God, it seems that I must disappear.

Jesus showers us with gifts.  None is greater than being amazed at our own humanity.  God doesn’t vanquish the finite; he came as a child and traced our steps to the final cries and surrender of a dying man.  What is most human is closest to the sacred.  Jesus returns to say good-by, touch his friends’ hands, and share their fish once more.  Small as we are, it is good to be here.  It was hard for him to leave.