This put up is predicated on Week Eight of An Ignatian Prayer Journey.
I discover myself drawn to the post-Resurrection scene in John, chapter 21. Peter, resignedly returned to his outdated life, sees Jesus on the shore making breakfast of all issues. That is God displaying up within the ordinariness of human expertise. Impulsively Peter jumps out of the boat to affix Jesus on the lakeshore. Jesus is recognizable however completely different after the Resurrection and is now cooking fish over a fireplace. Like Peter, I can hardly consider that Jesus is alive!
I really feel an awesome reluctance to strategy at first, as I, like Peter, really feel accountable for betraying Jesus in a roundabout way. I additionally really feel the draw of my outdated, acquainted patterns. But I additionally really feel the pull of this terribly engaging individual, and, like Peter, really feel like doing one thing rash on impulse to be with him. Nevertheless, I’m a bit sheepish as I strategy, feeling a combination of trepidation and anticipation. I nearly instinctively know that Jesus goes to ask me if I really like him—the one penetrating query I’d reasonably keep away from.
What will get me most about this scene, aside from the visceral odor of the fish, the fireplace, and the peaceable setting, is solely the best way Jesus seems to be at me. That penetrating gaze exhibits compassion after his Ardour. My creativeness brings this scene to life and speaks to all of the senses: sights, sounds, and smells. To be held in Christ’s gaze is actually to be seen, to have my soul regarded into, and to see compassion embodied. That is the one who has walked although the fireplace for me, took on the world for me, overcome demise for me, and now sits earlier than me, inviting me to have breakfast with him. I really feel unworthy however secretly delighted to get this second probability.
Instantly I’m invited into dialog. Jesus asks me if I really like him, and helplessly I’ve to confess that I do, realizing what he has been by way of for love of me. He asks me 3 times in what’s a bittersweet reunion, and he asks me to assist unfold his message. Amazingly there isn’t any rancor in his questioning, however solely a renewed invitation to affix him in his imaginative and prescient for the world and stay in his love.
Clearly, he’s asking me to share in his mission, to hold on his work, and to be an agent of God’s love. I can hardly consider I’m reinstated so utterly. I do know this implies accepting my very own brokenness and even utilizing it within the service of others. My coronary heart surges with gratitude upon being forgiven and given a second probability!
The prevailing emotion is pleasure: pleasure that Jesus has overcome demise, that I’ve been forgiven and missioned, and that by way of the Spirit, Jesus is at all times out there to me (and everybody else). It is a nice supply of hope and braveness for my journey going ahead. I don’t stroll alone, and with God’s assist, I can face something that life throws at me.
How is it to really feel Jesus’ compassionate gaze on me? What dialog would I’ve with Jesus? How can I deliver hope to these weighed down by life, excluded, or deserted? How can I deliver to hurting neighbors a way of peace that our God of compassion walks with them and suffers with them?
Picture: “John 21:1–14. As soon as extra Jesus showeth himself to Peter and others by the Sea of Galilee,” by William Gap.
