GOSPEL MESSAGE & RECORDING
It has been two weeks after the Great Fast, two weeks after celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord. What has changed within us? Are we the same people from before the Fast? Did we not grow in our spiritual journey? Or, worse yet, did we grow during the Fast and, once it was over, choose to revert back to our old ways? This was the case for the Disciples. Even after having communed with the Risen Lord, the Disciples went back to their old lives. There is almost an immediacy regarding how quickly they went from seeing Christ and St. Thomas saying "my Lord and my God" to the Disciples getting into the fishing boat to return to their life before they met Christ.
This Gospel portion's placement is very fitting because many people act similarly as the Disciples had done. It's not as if we return to a life of absurd sin, but just like the Disciples, we had spent time with Christ and were not transformed by our time with Him. We enter into His Presence, yet never let Him enter into our lives, our hearts. During the Great Lent, especially during Holy Week, we tend to be more aware of our shortcomings regarding our spiritual life, and we work on those shortcomings for the time. Especially during Holy Week, we seek to grow much closer to Christ, and we soar to great heights regarding our fasting and prayer life. But after the fast, after having celebrated the Resurrection of our Lord, we slowly return to "normalcy," as if a life without communion with God is "normal".
Regarding us reverting back to our previous life, let us look at the interaction between Christ and His Disciples. Even though they go back to their old lives, Christ comes to them and tests them through His instruction regarding casting the net. But one thing has changed in their relationship. Previously, Christ had mentioned that His brothers, sisters, and mother do His Father's Will, His own Will. And in John 15:15, Christ says to His Disciples that, "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." But now, at the shore, Christ calls His Disciples children; in a sense, a step down from being considered an equal through brotherhood or friendship. Though Christ still says they are heirs to the Kingdom, they lost that position of being His equal. For there is very little difference between a slave and a child for St. Paul writes in Galatians, "What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his Father."
So what this gets at is that, even though we may have returned to our way of life before the fast, do not kick yourself and think you have lost everything gained through the fast. Instead, realize that we are God's children and that we must never squander our inheritance, meaning that we should always live a life of spiritual growth whenever possible. At specific points in our lives, we may be able to call ourselves His friend, His brother or sister, and at other points, we will always be His children. Though with that said, we must work to earn that inheritance, for one day, we must grow up to become spiritual adults. As St. Peter writes in his general epistle, we are given spiritual milk "so that by it you may grow up in your salvation." Instead of becoming a grown adult baby, with regards to the spiritual life, learn to yearn after the spiritual struggles that we all had to face during the Great Lent. Struggle with your sins and passions, allow yourself to get back up when you fall, and continue to grow so that you may earn that great title of being a friend of Christ.