solemnly recited at this time every year, as witnesses to the resurrection of the
SERMON 229M
PREACHED ON THE FRIDAY AFTER EASTER
Date: 4121
The difference between the two catches offish recounted in the gospels
1. Your graces are aware that these readings from the holy gospel are solemnly recited at this time every year, as witnesses to the resurrection of the Lord. So just as the reading refreshes the memory, in the same way the expla¬ nation of the reading can refresh the memory. So what I am going to say, with the Lord's help, is what you are used to hearing every year. But if you have to brush up on the reading in your memory, though it can be read any other time in the gospel, how much more should you do it with the sermon, which you only hear once a year?2
The Lord appeared to his disciples after his resurrection by the sea of Tiberias, and found them fishing, though they had caught nothing.3 While fishing at night, they caught nothing; day dawned, and they made a catch; because they saw Christ the day, and at a word from the Lord they cast their nets, and made a catch. Now we find two catches of fish made by Christ's disciples, at a word from Christ; the first one when he chose them, and made them apostles;4 the second one now, after he had risen from the dead. Let's compare them, if you agree, and take careful note of the differences between them; it's got a lot to do, after all, with the consolidation of our faith.
On the first occasion then, when the Lord came across the fishermen whom he hadn't found previously, they had also caught nothing all night, worked hard without result. He ordered them to pay out the nets. He didn't say, on the right, he didn't say, on the left, but simply said, Pay out the nets (Lk 5:4). They paid them out—with the result that they loaded two boats, so that they were practi¬ cally sinking with the vast number of fish; so vast a number of fish, what's more, that the nets were breaking. That's how that catch of fish went; so how about this one? Cast the nets, he said, on the right hand side (Jn 21:6). Before the resurrection the nets were let out all over the place; after the resurrection the right side is chosen. Next, in the first catch of fish, the boats are overloaded, the nets are breaking; in this last one after the resurrection, there is no overloading of the boat, nor breaking of the seine. When they fished the first time, the number