A Homily for Friday in the Octave of Easter
Friday, April 25, 2025
Prince of Peace Catholic Church – 8:00 Mass
Acts 4:1-12; Psalm 118:1-2 and 4, 22-24, 25-27a; John 21:1-14
Audio Recording
Happy Easter! One of the themes in today’s Gospel is that we can do nothing truly MEANINGFUL for the kingdom if we are not responding with everything we have to Jesus’ call to discipleship.
Here’s the scene. The group of seven disciples have been fishing all night with no luck. Nightime was the time to fish, but nighttime also symbolizes separation from Jesus. Simon Peter decides to go fishing and six others join him, which can be understood as going back to their old way of life before meeting Jesus. Undoubtedly they were all still confused and discouraged by his death and didn’t yet fully understand the meaning of his resurrection, even though he had appeared to them two other times.
Jesus had previously told them “Without me you can do nothing,” and it’s not surprising that they caught no fish that night as they went out on their own in this state of mind. This implies that they will only be able to fulfill their mission if the risen Jesus is with them. This was true for them and it’s also true for each of us. We can do nothing without Christ.
As they are returning to shore, they see Jesus there, but they don’t recognize him. This “stranger” tells them to cast their nets over the right side of the boat and they will find something. This tells us that Jesus often calls to us through strangers…in disguise.
Perhaps he’s calling out to us through a neighbor in need who has been away from the Church for years. Or through someone in our social circle who has made it clear that they don’t want to talk about God. Are we willing to leave them in their faithless state, or will we risk their friendship by gently making an effort to try to help them see how much better their lives could be if they surrendered to Christ?
Are we willing to help them see that their efforts to find happiness and love in worldly things are still leaving them empty? Are we willing to share all that Christ has done for us since we turned our life over to him? We have a choice to make in these circumstances, a choice for Christ or a choice against him through our silence.
When the disciples in today’s gospel do what Jesus tells them to do, they make an unexpected catch of fish that’s as incredible as the miracle at Cana. The lesson for us is that when we do what Jesus tells us to do, when we are unafraid to tell others about his merciful love, he works through our efforts and performs miracles, miracles of hope and conversion. Just look at how he empowered Peter to boldly speak of him in today’s first reading when he proclaimed the risen Christ to the Jewish leaders, saying that “there is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.”
Like the disciples, we are each expected to evangelize – regardless of our age or our state in life – to witness to the risen Christ in the world. Without Jesus’ assistance, if we try to do this on our own by either buying into a watered-down, I’m ok, you’re ok, version of the faith, or if by our silence we send the message that it’s possible to find truth and fulfillment outside the Church, we have failed in our baptismal mission to evangelize. If we resign ourselves to the false notion that there’s nothing I can do or say that will bring others back to God, then we are abandoning the one mission that really matters, the mission to bring others to Christ.
But, if we are obedient to Christ and his teachings, if we are willing to risk losing the friendship of others because we stand firmly on the truth of our faith, and witness to Him by speaking his Truth in love, we will ultimately be successful in our mission. We might lose some “friends” along the way, but we will experience the joy of being faithful to our mission of bringing souls to faith in Christ, our one true friend.