Dear Brothers and Sisters,
It is the Third Sunday of Easter; the Lord is risen! We can summarize this gospel by a phrase from St. Paul: where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. In the gospel we just heard there was an abundance of fish, amidst the break downs of the disciples, so much so that they went fishing, because they were fed up, they had enough. One of the disciples said that Christ had risen and he had appeared and then what. Here we are the same. We were full of joy on Easter and even last week with Thomas. God is giving us one grace upon another and tonight, are you also going fishing? But be patient, brothers and sisters, Christ appears in every Eucharist.
Do you remember last week when you had a chance to put your finger into his wounds? Jesus said to Thomas last week, touch me so that you can see it is really me, and today perhaps there is another one who needs to touch the Lord so that he can believe. They are discouraged because they caught no fish and perhaps one person here is sad or depressed so where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, as we can see in this wonderful dialogue with Peter.
It is remarkable that the Church has the tradition that scripture scholars show us that three means ‘it is this way and always this way and it is unchanging’. This is why we say the Lord is Holy, Holy, Holy. It is true that the Lord is Holy and this is unchangeable. Peter’s three denials are changed into three statements of love that follow the three questions the Lord asked him. His triple denial means he denied him till the end, but haven’t we done the same with our sins, our selfishness, our pride, our lust? In so many situations we have truly denied the Lord, even though we knew what we were doing. Today the Lord tells you that he loves you and let us tell him that we love him. This was the third time Jesus appeared to them and for each denial Peter professes his love: he says in different ways that I love you, I care for you, I will give my life for you.
With every sin that you experience, every slavery, every idolatry, every temptation you have fallen into, the Lord turns it today into something that brings you closer to him. He also tells you to feed my lambs. A Christian is not one who is sinless, who is a perfect Christian, who carries holy water with him always. Christianity is not about superheroes and saints who are so sweet and perfect and do everything great. These are fake stories. Saints are poor men and women like you and me who are sinners, but aware of their sins and conscious of the love that God has for them.
In the gospels we see Peter and the disciples as slow-witted, stuck in their sins. Their mistakes are not covered over, often they are wretched. You and I are like them and thanks to their unfaithfulness we can identify with them. After the passion and death of the Lord they say, let’s go fishing and perhaps you and I did the same and returned to our idols and our routines. Now you are able to return to the Lord again.
I love the beloved disciple who is John and is the first one to recognize that it is Jesus Christ, how does he recognize him? They saw Jesus on the shore when they spent the whole night in the boat and had not caught anything. Does it sound familiar? When Jesus calls the first four disciples who were walking on the shore of Lake Gennesaret and he gets into Peter’s boat and put out from the shore and preached to the people. For sure Jesus announced the kingdom of God and the love of the Father for them. He could not announce anything else. Then he says to Peter throw your net and you will make a large catch. Peter complains and says, Lord, we have been here all night and did not catch one fish. Jesus tells them that they were doing it with their own strength. Peter said, at your word I will lower the nets, and they made a huge catch of fish and Peter threw himself at the feet of the Lord and said, depart from me for I am a sinful man. Jesus told them, today you will be a fisher of men.
The gospel today is the same. They spent the whole night fishing, which is the best time to fish and caught nothing. Jesus tells them this time to cast the net to the right and they were not able to pull it in because of the great number of fish. Then it is John who says, “It is the Lord.” How does he recognize that it is the Lord, from the huge number of fish, not for anything else.
To fish is to love and they will become fishers of men who they love and take out of the waters of death. The world is a place where people are dying, where people are suffering, and they don’t know why. And here we are in the boat, in the Church, and I don’t know if you realize that the Eucharist is the most important event you have in your life. Do you believe it? The Eucharist has the power to make you a new man or a new woman and it can bring you out of the death that you are in. It takes you out of your sins, your sufferings, your anxiety, your old age and give you an answer about what you are to do with your life.
The Lord is here today and tells you to throw the net to the right. But according to fishermen’s techniques, throwing the net to the left makes more sense. It is easier to pull it up and get the fish into the boat. Throwing to the right is more uncomfortable. At times our Lord asks us to do things that go against our reason and when we obey, we are full of peace. This is a sign that you are doing God’s will. Why does he tell some men to be priests and others to marry? When someone tells you to not live with your girlfriend or your boyfriend, it seems totally crazy, no? This is cheaper rather than both paying rent but when you obey the invitation that seems unreasonable it is like throwing the net to the right of the boat. The disciples obey and they catch a huge number of fish. On your own strength you will not catch a single fish, you cannot love without Christ.
Christ has risen from the dead and that means he has this power to free you from whatever torments you or enslaves you. He is the Lord over your love for money, the Lord over your disordered sexuality. It is easy to see his power after the miraculous catch of fish, but not before then. The Lord asks you today, do you love me? We can respond by saying, Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you. Someday I will love you if you help me. Help me to experience your love so that I may be able to love others, so I can throw the net to the right. I want to be able to love and to follow you.
This is how the gospel ends with the wonderful word, follow me. Follow me to heaven. To get to heaven you need to pass through the cross. What cross do you have today? Pick it up and follow me. The one who doesn’t pick up his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. If you want to be happy, pick up your cross. He calls you to make you a new man, to resurrect you. This Eucharist makes present the love of God for you. It makes present his death and his resurrection. The Lord wants to make you a Christian and to experience this Easter this love of the Lord in the midst of your denials, in the midst of your sins.