THE DAWNING DAY OF SALVATION

EASTER FRIDAY

Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP

Acts 4:1-12; Ps 118:1-2,4,22-27; Jn 21:1-14

Theme: The Dawning Day of Salvation

From the Easter day onward, the various appearances of the Risen Lord to his disciples were gradually awakening their consciousness to the reality of the Day of the Lord. They grew in their awareness of the day of salvation. The Risen Lord, as the day of salvation, has dawned and will never set again. The gospel narrative of the appearance of the Lord to the apostles by the Sea of Tiberias is captivating and dramatic. John used various means to show the haziness in their minds whenever they encountered the Risen Lord. As mentioned earlier, the Risen Lord is a mystical reality. As such, he is not easily given to human senses but to spiritual sight or faith. The Evangelist used the place of the story, the time of the day, and the inability of the disciples to recognise the Lord, to convey this truth to us. About seven apostles of the Lord were fishing all night and caught nothing. The Risen Lord came to them as the day was dawning. “It was light by now and there stood Jesus on the shore, though the disciples did not realise that it was Jesus. Jesus called out, ‘Have you caught anything, friends?’ And when they answered, ‘No’, he said, ‘Throw the net out to starboard and you’ll find something.’ So they dropped the net, and there were so many fish that they could not haul it in.” This miracle opened the beloved apostle’s eyes to the Lord's presence and he mentioned it to Peter. “The disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord.’” There was an apparent touch of the divine in everything that happened: the fruitless night, the number of fish, the net not tearing with such a number, the bread and charcoal fire waiting for them, the breakfast they had with the Lord, etc.

This state of uncertainty and awareness of a kind of providence are usual experiences when a person submits his life to the Risen Lord. When we encounter the Risen Lord in our personal life, it would usually seem to us to be an optional path to travel or not travel. But the providential care of the Lord manifests itself to nudge us to submit our life to him. Like the apostles, the conviction grows as we abandon every other thing to follow him. The apostles labouring through the night and not catching any fish, and finding everything they hoped for at his coming and in his company, was the Evangelist’s way of telling us that their faith in the Risen Lord was nurtured by his mystical presence and providence working through the daily events. The Risen Lord is the day of salvation that dawns upon us gradually as we commit ourselves and everything to him. As our faith matures under his providential care and the guidance of the Holy Spirit he sends into our hearts, we come to the realisation that there is no other name through which we can be saved. It is with this full conviction that Peter and John faced the full Sanhedrin and accused them of betraying the Anointed One of God. “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, addressed them, ‘Rulers of the people, and elders! If you are questioning us today about an act of kindness to a cripple, and asking us how he was healed, then I am glad to tell you all, and would indeed be glad to tell the whole people of Israel, that it was by the name of Jesus the Nazarene, the one you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by this name and by no other that this man is able to stand up perfectly healthy, here in your presence, today.” Such confidence will not be ours unless the risen Sun shines brightly in our lives to illuminate every aspect.  

Let us pray: Grant us the grace, Lord, to enter with sincere faith our day of salvation which has dawned with the Risen Lord, so that we may be transformed as the apostles were in his presence.  

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