Undoubtedly, for us believers, no other event in history can equal the Resurrection, Christ’s victory over those enemies against whom we are powerless: all evils and death itself. 

Thus, we should approach the Resurrection accounts as direct and personalized interventions of God to allay our fear of evil and death. 

We all seek the comfort of someone’s presence as we face major frightening events in life.  

It is because Jesus knows what fear can do to a human being that he is present in the lives of his first disciples after his resurrection and now, present in our lives as well. 

Today’s 2nd reading (Revelation 5:11-14) lifts a corner of the veil of time and space in which we live so that we learn that every time we proclaim the death and resurrection of Christ in our Eucharists, we are joining the endless Eucharistic Celebration of heaven. 

Therefore, we should be less afraid whenever we assemble in our church, especially for the Eucharist.   

John tells us why. 

Those who sing the endless song of victory around the altar of the Lamb have ceased to be afraid but, by choice and prompted by love, are very close to this altar, and thus, close to us too in our fears and anxieties.   

All of them sing: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches, wisdom and strength, honor and glory and blessing” to give us courage.   

When they were still on this earth, they too were afraid and anxious; but won over their fears because they believed in the victory of Christ. 

He is the Lamb whose blood, shed on the cross, freed them of all fears and enabled them to share in his victory.  

For scores of them, sharing in his victory took place after they faced a cruel, violent death out of loyalty to his Name. 

It should be awesomely comforting for us all to remember that every time we gather for the Eucharist we are surrounded by throngs of glorified brothers and sisters who help us handle our fears and open our eyes to God’s reassuring presence. 

But there is more.  

The gospel passage (John 21:1-19) tells us that the Victorious Risen Lord wishes to be present even in the uneventful, routine moments of daily life. 

The natural human tendency, so evident with Simon Peter and his companions, is to return to the comfort zone, to familiar surroundings whenever we are confronted with serious or painful situations. 

They went back to fishing, to what should have been easier and more successful.   

It wasn’t. They worked all night and caught nothing. 

The Risen Lord is present also in those areas of life in which we take refuge precisely because we think we have a better chance of succeeding or we can avoid daunting challenges.  

However, for a believer, for one washed clean in the Blood of the Lamb, there is no refuge in former comfort zones, in selected challenge-free areas! 

Paradoxically, we enjoy more evidence of his presence and of his grace-filled assistance if we dare to be and to work where he calls us to be and to work. 

The decision to return to familiar and much less challenging surroundings would maximize our failures and keep our eyes from recognizing him. 

The unalterable fact was that Simon Peter and his friends had become fishers of men.  

That was their new mission. With the presence and assistance of the Risen Lord, in a setting filled with new challenges, they would find self-fulfillment and glorify God. 

Reverting to going fishing exposed them to embarrassing failures.  

Likewise, if we desire to avoid embarrassing failures, find self-fulfillment and glorify God, our former comfort zone must be replaced by a setting in which we carry out our assigned mission according to our calling in life with the Risen Lord working with us and through us.  

In the community energized by the Risen Lord and his Holy Spirit, there is always a disciple whom Jesus loves who points us in the direction of the Lord even as we, so wrapped up in many chores, cannot see him so readily. 

It could be a friend, a teacher, a priest, a family member, or even a perfect stranger, whom the Lord has placed right there to take us away from our concerns to focus on HIM. 

Notice how, in reporting this significant event in his life, the evangelist doesn’t describe anything earthshaking, even in reporting the miraculous catch.   

After all, miracles are miracles only for those for whom they are meant.   

Thus, even something much smaller than a great catch of 153 fish, something as modest as breakfast cooked just for us, or Jesus’ request for our contribution, will suffice as our eyes get more accustomed to his presence. 

Every Sunday, in the setting of our assembled community, as we add our humble contribution to the gifts of God on the altar, we can get a powerful emotional charge.   

Furthermore, our invisible, heavenly friends, the Saints, help us overcome our fears and sharpen our eyesight. 

Therefore, we can expect to count confidently on a newly found ability to see our Risen, Victorious Lord in so many more moments of our daily life throughout the following week.  

And, like Simon Peter, we would also be less troubled by the recollection of our failures whenever the Lord asks us, individually, how much we love him.