Have You Been Transformed?

Now that Lent, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday are fading into the past, have you been transformed?  Have you been able to let go of the need to be right, successful, independent, or in control?  Are you better able to really understand FEAR as a Falsehood Experienced As Reality?  If you feel like you're only part way there, know that you are not alone and that our God of infinite patience and love will carry us through to the other side. 

I may have learned a few things during Lent, but have I really let go of the need to be right, independent and in control?  Perhaps I, and maybe you, need more time…

I wonder how the disciples felt after the resurrection?  Puzzled, reassured, discombobulated, out of control?  Let's watch them return to the comfort of their old patterns:

John 21. 1-14  MSG

After this, Jesus appeared again to the disciples, this time at the Tiberias Sea (the Sea of Galilee)  This is how he did it: Simon Peter, Thomas (nicknamed “Twin”), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the brothers Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. Simon Peter announced, “I’m going fishing.”

The rest of them replied, “We’re going with you.”   They went out and got in the boat. They caught nothing that night. When the sun came up, Jesus was standing on the beach, but they didn’t recognize him.  

Jesus spoke to them: “Good morning! Did you catch anything for breakfast?”

They answered, “No.” 

He said, “Throw the net off the right side of the boat and see what happens.” 

They did what he said. All of a sudden there were so many fish in it, they weren’t strong enough to pull it in. 

Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Master!”

When Simon Peter realized that it was the Master, he threw on some clothes, for he was stripped for work, and dove into the sea. The other disciples came in by boat for they weren’t far from land, a hundred yards or so, pulling along the net full of fish. When they got out of the boat, they saw a fire laid, with fish and bread cooking on it. 

Jesus said, “Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught.”  Simon Peter joined them and pulled the net to shore—153 big fish!  And even with all those fish, the net didn’t rip. 

Jesus said, “Breakfast is ready.” Not one of the disciples dared ask, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Master. 

Jesus then took the bread and gave it to them. He did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus had shown himself alive to the disciples since being raised from the dead.

The disciples returned to their old way of life, and Jesus met them and fed them yet again. And so it is for us…we will return again to the Lord's Table on Sunday; I hope that you can join us.

PS  I found these writings about transformation comforting, as I live into my own slow, post-resurrection attempt.

On the day you cease to change you cease to live. - Anthony de Mello, SJ

If you’re feeling a little restless, a little unfinished, or a little spiritually bruised, you’re not broken. You’re just being honest. And that’s a very good place to begin. - Kate Bowler

Patient Trust

Above all, trust in the slow work of God.
We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new.

And yet it is the law of all progress
that it is made by passing through some stages of instability—
and that it may take a very long time.

And so I think it is with you;
your ideas mature gradually—let them grow,
let them shape themselves, without undue haste.
Don’t try to force them on,
as though you could be today what time
(that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will)
will make of you tomorrow.

Only God could say what this new spirit
gradually forming within you will be.
Give Our Lord the benefit of believing
that his hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself
in suspense and incomplete.  —Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ, excerpted from Hearts on Fire

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