HOMILY FOR FRIDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER (1)
HOMILY FOR FRIDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER
HOMILY THEME: JESUS APPEARS TO SEVEN DISCIPLES……”This was the third time that Jesus revealed himself to his disciples after rising from the dead”
BY: Fr. Joaquim MONRÓS i Guitart
HOMILY: Today, for the third time, Jesus reveals himself to his disciples after his rising. Peter has gone back to his old fisherman job and the others have decided to join him. It stands to logic that, if he was a fisherman before following Jesus, afterwards, he gets back to his old job; and there still are those who are surprised to see that it is not necessary to leave one's honest work to follow Christ.
That night they caught nothing! And when the day breaks and Jesus appears, they do not recognize him until He asks them for something to eat. When they tell him they have nothing, He just points out where they are to throw their net. And, even though fishermen seem to know all the answers and they had spent the night to no avail, they obey him. «O the power of the obedience. The lake of Tiberias was refusing its fish to Peter’s nets. An entire night in vain. —But now, obedient, he returns the net to the water and they caught (…) a full load of fish. —Believe me: the miracle repeats itself daily» (Saint Josemaria).
The Evangelist points out «It was full of big fish —one hundred and fifty-three» (Jn 21:11) but, in spite of being so many, the net was not torn. These are details to bear in mind, as Redemption, amid normal work, takes place with responsible obedience.
They all «knew it was the Lord. Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them» (Jn 21:12-13). He did the same with the fish. If we obey him we shall not lack either the spiritual or the material food. He taught this to his closest followers and John Paul II said it too: «When starting the new millennium, our heart reverberates with those words with which Jesus (…) invited the Apostle to put out into the deep, and let down the nets for a catch: ‘Duc in altum’ (Lk 5:4). Peter and the first disciples trusted Christ’s word (…) and when they had this done, ‘they enclosed a great multitude of fishes’ (Lk 5:6). This word resounds for us to day too».
Fr. Joaquim MONRÓS i Guitart (Tarragona, Spain)
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