Do You Love Me?

In today's gospel, Jesus appears again to His disciples post Resurrection. The disciples have gone fishing and Jesus is at the shore. There are a lot of things going on in this passage. Many of them seem to be minor type comments, but they are very meaningful facts. The disciples find Jesus cooking breakfast for them. Seems Jesus is always feeding his followers doesn't it? And why not? We are still fed by him through the Eucharist as he prepares us to be commissioned each week just as He prepared His followers in today's gospel.
  Then there is that little tidbit of exactly 153 fish. This may relate to Jewish numerology, but I rather like the following idea: the disciples were called to be fishers of men, all men. (Women and children too but as we know the bible is written in the male person). At the time of the resurrection there were exactly 153 known species of fish in the world. So perhaps the fish symbolized all inhabitants of the world. I kind of like that idea since we are told to accept everyone by the gospel regardless of their short comings or former life and teach them this new life in Christ.
  And, of course, there is the request of Peter. Do you love me? Three times even! Why three? Well, we know that Peter denied knowing Jesus three times, and this disturbed Peter so much, that he wept bitterly. But her is Jesus, asking Peter three times to reconcile for that past denials. A perfect example of ow God is constantly giving us a chance to heal our relationship with Him and continue anew, tending His flock.
   So now what? What does this mean for the new week and our own lives?
   Jesus has fed us at mass with His word and Body so that we will be strengthened to go out into the world, into our workplaces, onto the buses and subways, streets and avenues cities and countrysides. We have been prepared to reach out to all people we meet and to offer the good news of a loving, merciful, forgiving God who will never give up on any of us and always offer us the chance to turn into His loving arms and say, "I may not always show it Lord, but you know I love you."