The Proof is in the Pudding

Friday in the Octave of Easter

Acts 4:1-12; John 21:1-14

There’s a saying that “The proof is in the pudding.” This, in turn, is a shortened version of the older version: “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.” It goes back to Great Britain, where pudding refers not only to the sweet dessert we know but also to main dishes made with the innards of animals. In those cases, the proof of a pudding was the difference between a meal and sickness or death. The phrase tells us what we often learn from experience: we only know the quality of something when we taste, see, hear, touch or smell it ourselves. 

When Peter and John were hauled before the religious authorities angered that they were preaching about the risen Jesus, they pointed to the crippled man who was healed in his name. The disciples didn’t recognize that it was the risen Jesus standing on the shore until he redirected their efforts and they hauled in a miraculous catch of fish.

These days we’re bereft of some of the common signs that Jesus is with us and we’re with him. Our churches are closed. Most of us don’t have access to the sacraments except in extraordinary circumstances. Yet Jesus is still present and revealing himself to us.  

It’s relatively easy to experience Jesus at church, where we have all kinds of structures, rituals and expectations of his presence and action. Our challenge and opportunity today is to let him reveal himself to us in these very unusual and trying circumstances. His own death and burial could not stop Jesus. Neither will COVID-19.

- Capuchin Friar John Celichowski