Last night was the second session of the four-part program Bill Nolan (Pastoral Associate at St. Thomas Apostle) and I are presenting on Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances. As I mentioned in my post last week, the program is being sponsored by Christ the King and St. Thomas Apostle parishes in Minneapolis and each week we are focusing on the final passages of one of the four Gospels.
This week our focus was John’s Gospel and I took the lead and offered the reflection. Although John has two chapters devoted to Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances, my focus was Chapter 21, and particularly, the colloquy between Jesus and Peter on the beach.
There are two very important (albeit related) conclusions we can draw about Jesus in that colloquy, both of which have implications for both our relationship to God and our relationship to each other. First, that Jesus doesn’t give up on Peter easily. Second, Jesus accepts what Peter is capable of offering. I discussed both conclusions as well as their implications for us.
You can access a recording of my talk here or stream it from the icon below. (The podcast runs for 27:03. There is a break at about 5:45, where I paused the recorder while we read the Gospel passage aloud and asked participants to share a word or phrase that struck them.) A copy of the handout we distributed with some questions for further reflection and sources for further reading is here. .
Next Wednesday evening, Bill will take the lead, giving a talk focusing on the final chapter of St. Luke’s Gospel. I’ll then wrap up the following week with Matthew. If you are in the Twin Cities area, please join us. If not, you can listen to all of the program podcasts here on Creo en Dios!
Creo en Dios! 