A BEAUTIFUL HUNGER
“When they climbed out on shore, they saw a charcoal fire with fish on it and bread…Jesus said to them, ‘Come, have breakfast.’” Jn 21:1-4
Two friends came to visit me at the end of February. A week prior, I had purchased my plane ticket to Spain, planning to spend two weeks on the Camino de Santiago in late April and early May. My two guests, sharing my excitement and inquiring about various details, wanted to know about my Spanish language skills. Both bilingual women laughed when I told them I knew mostly food words and some critical essentials like tortilla…margarita…dos cervezas por favor (two beers please)…¿dónde está el baño?(where is the bathroom?).
Still concerned, they wanted to know if I could ask for the bus station…¿dónde está la estación del bus? What about the train station?…¿dónde está la estación de tren? In jest, I asked what was the word for ‘handsome’ (guapo) and they helped me remember hombre (man). ¿Dónde está el hombre guapo? (Where is the handsome man?), I practiced. Smiling, they corrected my pronunciation. I tried again and they again patiently corrected my pronunciation. Don’t say hambre, they instructed, say hombre. Hambre is hunger. I laughed at the irony of the prospect of making a pilgrimage through Spain asking about el hambre guapo, “the beautiful hunger.” Yet, it was indeed a beautiful hunger, both physical and spiritual, driving me to undertake that adventure – and many other pursuits.
In today’s gospel, Peter and six other disciples have been fishing all night without anything to show for it but empty nets. They are, presumably, hungry. And, having just had the experience of seeing the Master die, it is most likely a hunger that transcends the physical. After a long and unproductive night, the not-yet-revealed Jesus appears on the shore, instructs them to cast their nets once more, and the nets fill with a miraculous haul of fish. “It is the Lord!” They recognize and hasten to shore, led by Peter who jumps into the water and swims to be with Him. When they climb ashore, Jesus already has a meal of fish and bread cooking on a charcoal fire and invites them tenderly, “Come, have breakfast.” He knows their hunger and has experienced it himself. He knows that even though they eat, they will be hungry again, and that the hunger will oftentimes transcend the physical. How satisfying their breakfast with Jesus must have tasted to the disciples that morning and how fed they must have felt! At least, for a time. Until, once again, their beautiful hunger returned.
Lord, fill our empty nets. Help us listen to You, directing our efforts. Let us hasten to feed one another.
Vicki Lord