Homily for Third Sunday of Easter - May 5, 2019

Homily for May 5, 2019
Third Sunday of Easter
The Gospel Must Change Us

Soren Kierkegaard tells a great little parable about a town entirely comprised of ducks. Every Sunday, all the ducks would waddle out of their homes, down the streets, and to the little duck-church. The duck preacher would preach to them, “My fellow ducks, God has given us wings! We can use them to rise up to the sky, to fly like eagles! No walls can confine you, no fences hold you in! You were meant to fly!” And the ducks would all nod their heads, saying, “Amen! Preach it, brother duck!” And then they would waddle home.
A cute parable, but it tells a powerful point – will the good news of Jesus Christ change us?
This Gospel is one of my favorites, in part because I love Simon Peter – he is my confirmation saint, and I’ve always felt a kinship with this flawed but loveable guy. Consider this – Peter had just had three encounters with the Risen Christ. He has seen Thomas put his hands into the Lord’s side; he has received the power to forgive sins from the Risen Lord; he had seen the empty tomb. But even with all these experiences of the Lord, he can’t figure out what to do next – so he goes fishing. He goes back to his old ways of doing things, the things that are comfortable to him. The Gospel has yet to change him.
So Jesus does a miracle – and it’s one that should sound familiar, both to us and to Peter. The very first time Jesus meets Peter in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus gives Peter a miraculous catch of fish. We’re familiar with the story – Peter is fishing all night, catches nothing, and then Jesus tells him to throw his net down the other side, it is immediately filled with fish. This happened already the first time Peter and Jesus met – and at that moment, Jesus gives him a mission. He says to Peter, “From now on, you will be a fisher of men” – you will be bringing souls into the “net” of God’s love and His Church.
When Jesus does this miracle a second time in today’s Gospel, after His resurrection, Peter must have been remembering this first miracle! And just like there was a connection between “miraculous catch of fish” and “Peter’s new mission” the first time, we see the same connection here. Jesus does a miraculous catch of fish, then leads Peter off by himself to tell him three times, “Feed my sheep.” His calling is renewed.
Even the miracle itself gives us hints of Peter’s mission. We see this detail – 153 large fish – in the Gospel. Why so specific? Because many ancient Jews believed that there were 153 different nations and tribes in the world. So it is symbolic that Peter’s net (the Church) would include every tribe and tongue, people and nation.
And our first reading shows us how Peter, now transformed, is fulfilling his mission! He’s now unafraid to preach the Gospel in front of the hostile crowd of the Sanhedrin. He would go on to preach it even in front of Emperor Nero of Rome. The Gospel finally changed him, and he went from fisherman to evangelist.
But just like Peter, and just like the parable of the ducks, our belief that Jesus is the Risen Lord must change us as well! Does our knowledge of God and our Catholic Faith make a difference in our life? I want to look at three areas where it should make a difference:
First, the orientation of our life. This past week I have been interviewing all of our kids who are preparing for Confirmation. I asked all of them the question, “What is the meaning of life?” and most of them got the correct answer: “To love the Lord so that we can be happy with Him in Heaven.” That’s correct! But later on in the interview, I would ask them, “So what are your life’s goals?” And I would usually get, “Oh, to go to a good college, to have fun, to get married, to make a lot of money, to be rich and famous.” Very rarely would someone say, “My life’s goal is to be holy, to be a saint.” So these kids knew, intellectually, that the point of life is to be holy. But when it came to their life, and their personal goals, somehow holiness didn’t usually factor in! If the Gospel will change your life, your life’s orientation must change – from you, your wants, your needs, your pleasures – to Him, His glory, His love, His holiness-living-in-you.
Second, in our life of prayer. Let us think of this logically. If we believe that God is real, and that He wants a relationship with us, and that a relationship with us leads to our deep happiness here on earth and eternal joy in the next life – then the only logical response is to spend time with Him daily. If you do not pray for at least ten minutes per day, either: a) You don’t believe in God, or b) You don’t love God. Love makes us want to be in the presence of the beloved. If someone loves his wife, he wants to be with his wife. If I love pizza, I want to be in the presence of pizza (specifically, eating it!). So if someone really believes this Catholic Faith, it will make a practical difference in our prayer life because we’ll take the time to be with Him. St. Alphonsus Liguori said, “If you pray, you will be saved. If you do not pray, you will be lost.” That pretty much sums it up!
Finally, our life of virtue. The Gospel must penetrate to every aspect of our life – how we treat our spouse, what we look up on the internet, how we deal with the people we don’t like, what we do at work or school. Jesus tells us to “be holy, as your Heavenly Father is holy” – so in every aspect of our life we must seek to live like Him.
Once St. Peter allowed the Gospel to change him through the power of the Holy Spirit, he went out and changed the world. It would be a shame if a duck knew it could fly, but only waddled around everywhere. It would be even more of a shame if we knew a lot about our Catholic Faith but didn’t become holy ourselves.