Daily Mass Gospel Reflection - Christ Builds His Church

Word on Fire Ministry ^ | 22.4.22 | Aux. Bishop R. Barron

[MurphsLaw]

Friday within the Octave of Easter

John 21:1-14

Friends, today’s Gospel tells of the toappearance of the risen Jesus to seven disciples
by the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

Peter and six other Apostles were in a boat on the sea.
Seeing Peter and the disciples in a boat, we are meant to think of the Church,
and the peculiar number of seven—evocative of completion or fulfillment—
is meant to make us consider the eschatological Church,
the community of Jesus approaching the end of its journey.

On the shore (though they don’t recognize him at first) is the Lord Jesus.
At his command, they lower their nets and bring in an extraordinary catch.
Well, this is the work of the Church until the end of the age:
to gather in souls and to bring them to Christ.

When they empty their nets they discover 153 large fish.
Many theories as to the meaning of this figure have been proposed.
My favorite is the one put forward by St. Augustine.
According to the science of that time, Augustine argued,
there were 153 species of fish in the sea, and therefore,
this extraordinary number is meant to signal the universality of the Church’s salvific mission.

[MurphsLaw]

+++Jesus revealed himself again
his disciples at the Sea of
Tiberias.
He revealed himself in this way.
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.”
So they went out and got into the boat,
but that night they caught nothing.
When it was already dawn, Jesus was
standing on the shore;
but the disciples did not realize
that it was Jesus.
Jesus said to them, “Children, have
you caught anything to eat?”
They answered him, “No.”
So he said to them, “Cast the net
over the right side of the boat
and you will find something.”
So they cast it, and were not able
to pull it in
because of the number of fish.
So the disciple whom Jesus loved
said to Peter, “It is the Lord.”
When Simon Peter heard that it was
the Lord,
he tucked in his garment, for he was
lightly clad,
and jumped into the sea.
The other disciples came in the boat,
for they were not far from shore,
only about a hundred yards,
dragging the net with the fish.
When they climbed out on shore,
they saw a charcoal fire with fish
on it and bread.
Jesus said to them, “Bring some of
the fish you just caught.”
So Simon Peter went over and dragged the net ashore
full of one hundred fifty-three
large fish.
Even though there were so many, the
net was not torn.
Jesus said to them, “Come, have
breakfast.”
And none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?”
because they realized it was the Lord.
Jesus came over and took the bread
and gave it to them,
and in like manner the fish.
This was now the third time Jesus
was revealed to his disciples
after being raised from the dead.+++

[Bookshelf]

The headline, “Christ Builds His Church” is misleading. The Church foundation is laid on the road to Damascus.

[MurphsLaw]

The "foundation" for the Church began at Caesarea Phillipi where Christ promises to build the Church upon the Apostle he named Rock.
After that, the Church was built in the Upper Room, on the Cross, breaking Bread in Emmaus, and here on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Soon it will build around the Holy Spirit of Pentecost Sunday. (And yes, again, some years later on the Road to Damascus as well.)
Christ's Church is not a one and done sort of thing, The Church is The Body of Christ, a living Church, he continues to build to this day,, and so it grows...

Christ is always building his Church, till the end of the age.

[Bookshelf]

You mistake the two ages of the Bible. The age of Laws and the age of Grace. The first ended with the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome. The second began with Paul and the road to Damascus. The first had almost all to do with the Temple and the laws of Moses; the second had nothing to do with the Temple, but introduced the age of Grace among the Gentiles and the creation of the Church that we have today.