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From the Pastor's Desk: May 1, 2022
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From the Pastor’s Desk: May 1, 2022
At the time when St. John wrote his gospel, the first persecutions had already broken out. The Roman Emperors had already begun their policy of executing Christians for treason, because Christians refused to worship the Roman gods. The Gospel gives us a powerful insight of the early Christian communities after the “hour” of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection. Their lack of faith, dashed hopes and unfulfilled expectations bring them back to do what they knew best – they went back to fishing. Together were Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, Zebedee’s sons, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We also will come with you.”
These seven are very significant for the future of the Church of Jesus Christ. The number “seven” is the number of fullness and symbolizes more than just a part of the apostolic group. The apostolic group represents the whole community of believers down through the centuries who will encounter the Risen Lord with their particular roles entrusted to them by the Lord – the primary mission of Peter, the place of the Beloved Disciple, and responsibility of all believers to be “fishers” of people. This comes out in the Gospel today, in the image of a fishing net full of fish – the same miraculous catch of fish just as He had done three years earlier - an analogy for the Church that appears more than once in the Gospels.
When Peter brings the catch to shore, St. John makes a point of mentioning a curious detail: the net was "full of one hundred and fifty-three large fish. Even though there were so many, the net was not torn." Peter brought the overstuffed net onto the shore safely, almost miraculously - so many large fish should have torn that net, but they didn't.
The net is the Church. It is filled with believers whom Christ gathers out of the ocean of time and history through the ministry of Peter and his successors, the popes. And Peter is the one who hauls this supernatural community onto the shores of eternity at the end of time, where they will all feast with the Lord. The net is so strong, which gives the power for the Church to grow and to endure in spite of violent persecutions, sufferings, scandals and sins and also in spite of obstacles, challenges, betrayals and rejections. Christ's Church continues to grow and expand under the ministry of Peter, and it will stay intact until it is brought safely home to heaven - Peter's net will not tear.
To give strength for the mission of His Church to continue, Jesus feeds His fishermen with His own Body and Blood. He invites us to participate in this process. “Bring some of the fish you just caught.” Now being fully satisfied with earthly food, Jesus asked Peter to profess the greatest love a man can have towards God, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”
Jesus asks us for complete and unconditional love; but, when we are weak, the love we can muster is enough if it is from the heart. Although our love will always be imperfect, it must be firm in trying to grow while never losing ground.
The Annual Convocation for Priests will be held from Monday, May 2nd through Wednesday, May 4th, 2022 at Marywood Retreat Center. All priests from throughout the Diocese of St. Augustine - the young and the old, the newly ordained and the retired, the diocesan and the religious, of all backgrounds and cultures - will meet in the unity of brotherhood to pray together, to offer support and healing for one another and to reflect on our priestly vocation. There will be no Mass on Tuesday and Wednesday. Thank you for your understanding and please keep the priests of the diocese in your prayers.
“So when God pulls down the curtain of the drama of the world’s redemption, He will not ask what part we played, but only how well we played the role assigned to us.” -The Wisdom of Fulton Sheen
Have a blessed week everybody and rejoice in the gift of the Resurrection, Alleluia!
With prayers,
Fr. Andy
