The associated reading for this reflection can be found in your Every Sacred Sunday Mass journal or online here.
We are a Sunday brunch.
To the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor, glory and might,
forever and ever.
Rev 5:13
Have you ever looked around during Sunday Mass and thought “Why are we here? Why do we show up at this church each week?” The obvious answer is Jesus, present in the Eucharist. But today’s Gospel reading goes deeper into what we really “do” each Sunday, painting a vivid image of the “Sunday Church”.
In today’s Gospel reading we hear the risen Lord encountering his disciples who are out fishing. The disciples are understandably amazed at the miraculous catch of fish, and they recognize Jesus in the miracle. The disciples come to meet Jesus on the shore and in John 21:12, Jesus says, “Come, have breakfast".
Interestingly, in her great wisdom, the Church sees this event as more than just a historical event but a model for the “Sunday Church”. The Catechism of the Catholic Church uses this scripture to speak about The Lord’s Day. We celebrate the day of Christ’s resurrection on the first day of the week, “the memorial of the first day of creation, and the 'eighth day' on which Christ after his ‘rest’ on the great Sabbath inaugurates the ‘day that the Lord has made,’ and the ‘day that knows no evening'" (CCC 1166).
Speaking of the Lord’s Day, Sunday, the Catechism then brings up John 21:12 saying, “The Lord’s Supper is its center, for there the whole community of the faithful encounters the risen Lord who invites them to his banquet.” (CCC 1166)
This is us every Sunday, and every Mass! We are the Church, a group of disciples, meeting the risen Lord, who invites us to a banquet. We leave our daily activities and jobs and come to the shore as a community and sit with Jesus, who invites us to a meal and nourishes us with his words and his risen body. How must the disciples have felt, sitting on the sandy shore eating with the risen Lord? How did they interact with one another, in the presence of the conqueror of sin and death? I long to be as united, compassionate, and joyous as the disciples with the risen Lord. May we strive to make Sunday more than just “me and Jesus” but a day when truly “the whole community of the faithful encounters the risen Lord who invites them to his banquet.”
Will you eat with us?
Edmund Mitchell is a Director of Evangelization and Catechesis in Grapevine, TX. He’s also creator and host of The Show with Edmund Mitchell, a video-based podcast you can find on youtube, facebook, and in your podcast app. You can find out more about Edmund HERE.