Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Christ's Words on this Third Sunday of Easter continue to assure us of the limitless abundance of God's love for us.  

Like Peter and the apostles, we may have abandoned and denied our Lord whenever troubles and hardships have assailed us, whenever we are in despair, or when we have failed to follow Christ and His commandments.  However, in spite of our unfaithfulness, Christ proves how much He loves us.  There is no end to the love which He offers to us.  Nothing can stop Him from loving us - not even our sinfulness, our weaknesses, our failures, and our betrayal of Him. 

Christ remains with us, standing in our midst. He knows our trials and sees what we are going through.  Our Lord understands the emptiness we feel in our hearts.  He knows our needs, He knows each detail in our lives.  Instead of withholding His graces, He gives more than what our sinful hearts deserve.  He doesn't just give us a piece of fish, he gives us a miraculous number of blessings.  He gives us not just ordinary blessings, but He offers us the best and choicest gift - the gift of Himself - His own Precious Body and Blood, as we celebrate the bounties of His love in the Eucharist.   

In the Eucharist, the Spirit of the Lord fortifies us as we go and cast our nets into the depth of God's love for us, receiving Him into our souls.  We encounter the Risen Christ, fully alive, giving us the grace to get back up and return to Him after we fall.  Our Lord offers us another chance and redeems us, waiting for us to respond to His love, like Peter, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Nourished by Christ's love, we can follow His command to tend His sheep - the vulnerable, the defenseless, those deprived of love and dignity, those who are in need.  Then we can together proclaim with great hope and gladness that our Lord is indeed risen! “To the One who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor, glory and might, forever and ever.”

God is Love,

father Al