Some of you may have heard me describe the liturgical year as a spiral rather than as a wheel, or a circle – a gem I learned from Sr Joan Chittister. The reason for this is that each time a season comes around again, we are changed, our situations are changed, the world is changed and the people around us are changed, so we will of course experience it a little differently.
Every time Eastertide comes around, even though I know these resurrection stories inside and out, I still find that I experience them anew each year. There are familiar things that I delight in each time, and new details that show themselves afresh.
I love that many of the stories involve a rustic physicality; in several of them, Jesus is eating or feeding the disciples. In this week’s reading, the disciples find Jesus sitting at a campfire making them breakfast like a loving mother.
This year, I find I need that Jesus; the one who sits and waits for me to stop trying desperately to catch fish; to look and see, and to recognize my Lord and my God; to swim ashore and sit together and break bread. I need that Jesus to feed me, and comfort me so that I will be ready to face the next challenge.
I pray that we all might recognize Jesus this week in the breaking of bread – both literal and sacramental. May we be comforted, and fed, and strengthened for the next challenge life gives us to face.
Mother Amanda