Hearth & Altar

Peter goes fishing. Back to what he knows. Back to the boat, the nets, the sea. And all night, nothing. Empty nets. Empty hands.

At dawn, a man stands on the shore. Children, have you caught anything to eat? No. Cast the net on the right side. They do - and the net fills with 153 large fish, so many they can't haul it in. The beloved disciple whispers: it is the Lord. Peter jumps into the water and swims to shore.

When they climb out, they find a charcoal fire with fish on it and bread. Jesus says the most ordinary, most extraordinary sentence in the Gospels: come, have breakfast.

The God who made the stars is grilling fish on the beach for his friends. This is what the Resurrection looks like on a Tuesday morning. Not thunder and lightning. Breakfast. Bread and fish on a charcoal fire, shared with tired fishermen who worked all night and caught nothing until he showed up.

Peter's boldness before the Sanhedrin in Acts shows the other side: there is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven by which we are to be saved. The same Jesus who makes breakfast on the beach is the cornerstone the builders rejected.

For families: your breakfast table is a resurrection table. When you feed your family in the morning, you do what Jesus did on the shore. It's ordinary. It's holy. Come, have breakfast. He is here.

As a family, pray together:

• For the Church - that she would recognize the Risen Christ in the ordinary: in breakfast tables, in shared meals, in the daily bread of family life. Alleluia! Lord, hear our prayer.

• For those who have fished all night and caught nothing - who are exhausted, discouraged, empty-handed: that the voice from the shore would redirect them and fill their nets. Lord, hear our prayer.

• For our family - that every meal we share would be a shore-of-Tiberias moment: Christ present, bread broken, joy shared. Lord, hear our prayer.

• For the faithful departed - that the God who called them to breakfast on the shore would call them to the eternal feast. Lord, hear our prayer.

Tomorrow morning, make breakfast special. Set the table. Sit together. Before you eat, say: Jesus made breakfast for his friends on the shore. He's making breakfast for us too. Come, have breakfast. Alleluia.