Liturgical Readings for : Friday, 5th April, 2024
Easter Friday
This morning meeting by the lakeside between Jesus and his disciples
carries the intimate and homely invite by Jesus, the gentle host ‘Come and have breakfast‘
FIRST READING
A reading from the Book Acts of the Apostles 4:1-12
This is the only name by which we can be saved.
While Peter and John were talking to the people the priests came up to them, accompanied by the captain of the Temple and the Sadducees. They were extremely annoyed at their teaching the people the doctrine of the resurrection from the dead by proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus. They arrested them, but as it was already late, they held them till the next day. But many of those who had listened to their message became believers, the total number of whom had now risen to something like five thousand.
The next day the rulers, elders and scribes had a meeting in Jerusalem with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, Jonathan, Alexander and all the members of the high-priestly families. They made the prisoners stand in the middle and began to interrogate them,
‘By what power, and by whose name have you men done this?’
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 Christ 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.
This is the stone rejected by you the builders, but which has proved to be the keystone. For of all the names in the world given to men, this is the only one by which we can be saved.’
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God
Responsorial Psalm Ps 117
Response The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
Or Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
1. Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for His love has no end. Let the sons of Israel say: ‘His love has no end.’
Let those who fear the Lord say: ‘His love has no end.‘ Response
2. The stone which the builders rejected has become the corner stone. This is the work of the Lord, a marvel in our eyes.
This day was made by the Lord; we rejoice and are glad. Response
3. O Lord, grant us salvation; O Lord, grant success. Blessed in the name of the Lord is he who comes.
We bless you from the house of the Lord; the Lord God is our light. Response
Gospel Acclamation Ps 117: 24
Alleluia, Alleluia!
This day was made by the Lord; we rejoice and are glad
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John 21: 1-14 Glory to you, O Lord
Jesus then stepped forward, took the bread and gave it to them, and the same with the fish.
Jesus showed himself again to the disciples. It was by the Sea of Tiberias, and it happened like this:
Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee and two more of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said, ‘I‘m going fishing’. They replied, ‘We’ll come with you’.
They went out and got into the boat but caught nothing that night.
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. The disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord’.
At these words ‘It is the Lord’, Simon Peter, who had practically nothing on, wrapped his cloak round him and jumped into the water. The other disciples came on in the boat, towing the net and the fish; they were only about a hundred yards from land.
As soon as they came ashore they saw that there was some bread there, and a charcoal fire with fish cooking on it.
Jesus said, ‘Bring some of the fish you have just caught’.
Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore, full of big fish, one hundred and fifty-three of them; and in spite of there being so many the net was not broken.
Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast’.
None of the disciples was bold enough to ask, ‘Who are you?‘; they knew quite well it was the Lord.
Jesus then stepped forward, took the bread and gave it to them, and the same with the fish.
This was the third time that Jesus showed himself to the disciples after rising from the dead.
The Gospel of the Lord Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
***************************
Gospel Reflection Easter Friday John 21:1-14
I always find striking the sentence in the gospel reading, ‘there stood Jesus on the shore’. When Jesus stood on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus, just as the two disciples on the road to Emmaus did not realize that the stranger who joined them was Jesus. Jesus can be standing on the shore of our lives without our realizing it. Sometimes the trials and struggles of life can blind us to the presence of the Lord alongside us.
In the gospel reading, the disciples had gone back to their fishing business in the wake of Jesus’ crucifixion. They seemed to have lost their skill because they had gone out at night, the best time to catch fish in the Sea of Galilee, and had caught nothing. In this moment of despondency and failure, the Lord stood on the shore close by them, even though they failed to recognize him. Yet, they had enough energy about them to respond to the invitation of this stranger on the shore to set out again and this time to throw their nets to starboard. The resulting enormous catch led one of the disciples, the beloved disciple, to recognize that the stranger was none other than the Lord. ‘It is the Lord’, he said to Peter. Sometimes when we refuse to let a difficult situation get the better of us, and set out again, perhaps in response to some invitation, we too come to recognize that the Lord is with us, standing on the shore of our lives. We come to see that he had been there all along, when all seemed dark, but we hadn’t recognized him. The Lord who stood on the shore of the Sea of Galilee wanted to enter into a personal communion with the disciples. He invited them, ‘Come and have breakfast’, and then went on to take bread and give it to them, which is suggestive of the last supper when Jesus took break, broke it, blessed it and gave it to his disciples. The risen Lord who stands on the shore of our lives wishes to be in a personal communion with his disciples today, all of us, and he does this in a special way when we gather to celebrate Eucharist.
__________________________
The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd
