One of the great talents that secret agents seem to acquire (at least in fiction) is that of disguise. Being a master of disguise enables spies like Sydney on television’s “Alias” to slip in and out of difficult situations, to gather vital information needed or to complete an important mission.

In the accounts of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, he too seems, at times, to be a master of disguise.

We don’t quite know what a resurrected body looks like. There certainly was no videotaping at the time of Jesus Christ. We could not expect to see a clip detailing the actual walk on the road to Emmaus on YouTube.com.

The resurrected body of the Lord is the same body as he had during his earthly life, although glorified and perfected. Recall that in John 20, Jesus invites Thomas the Apostle to cure his doubting by placing his fingers into the Divine wounds and side. In today’s pericope, taken from John 21, the Evangelist is keen to remind us that Jesus eats a meal with His disciples in His resurrected body.

On the other hand, there must be something so different about the Lord in His resurrected body that causes His disciples, even His closest friends, not to recognize Him at first glance. Think back to the before mentioned story of the road to Emmaus in John 20. It was not until the breaking of the bread that these two early followers know to whom they had been speaking and from whom they had been learning on their journey.

In today’s Gospel, the Apostles at first do not identify the man asking them how their fishing was progressing. Only when the disciples take a step back and see with the eyes of faith, hope and love do they see and know the Son of God.
How often, in our spiritual lives, does Jesus appear to us and we fail to recognize Him? Every day, Jesus is revealing Himself to us. At every moment of the day, Jesus is calling to us, asking us to go out of ourselves, to serve Him in serving others.

Christ appears to us a million times a day, in every situation, in which we find ourselves. Christ is present in the little things of life. He is there when someone had the courtesy to say “bless you” when we sneeze. He is there when, in our very busy commute, someone has the nicety to hold a door open for us. He’s around when we call someone back on the phone or when we return that e-mail to someone whom we really ought to be in better contact. Jesus is there when we act with prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude, those great moral virtues that help us do what Jesus would do. The Lord is present in the eyes and hearts of our brothers and sisters who make up the Body of Christ, the Church. Yet, time and again, we fail to recognize Him.

Christ is there in the seven Sacraments of the Church, most especially in His Real Presence, the Eucharist. And yet, time and again, we fail to recognize that the Lord God of all creation is right there, sacramentally present under the form of the consecrated host and wine. We take the Lord, our Salvation and, hopefully, we become He whom we receive.

The Lord does not wish to be a master of disguise in our spiritual lives. He wishes to be known, to be loved. He desires to be our Savior. All we need is to look with love and see Love Himself in the eyes of those calling out to be loved.

“As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies dráw fláme;

As tumbled over rim in roundy wells

Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell’s

Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;

Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:

Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;

Selves – goes itself; myself it speak and spells,

Crying Whát I do is me: for that I came.

Í say móre: the just man justices;

Kéeps grace: thát keeps all his goings graces;

Acts in God’s eye what in God’s eye he is –

Chríst – for Christ play in ten thousand places,

Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his’

To the Father through the features of men’s faces.”

- Gerard Manley Hopkins, “As Kingfishers Catch Fire”

Readings for the Third Sunday of Easter:
First Reading - Acts 5:27-32; 40-41
Psalm - 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11-12, 13
Second Reading - Revelation 5: 11-14
Gospel - John 21:1-19

Father Cush is on the faculty of Cathedral Preparatory Seminary, Elmhurst.