Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find

FRIDAY 17 APRIL (Jn 21,1-14)

In the Gospel according to Johm Jesus says: “I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd. This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. This command I have received from my Father.” My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one” ” (Jn 10,14-18.27-30). Souls are all of God. Every man is of God. The Lord, the Creator of man, wants to give the work of his hands to Christ Jesus, his only Good Shepherd. The Father does not know anyone else as his Good Shepherd. Jesus receives the sheep and keeps them, feeding them with his own life, giving them his Word, which is the Word of the Father.

Before returning to the Father, Jesus confesses in prayer that he lived his mission as a Good Shepherd well. He kept the sheep that the Father entrusted to him: “When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely. I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world” (Jn 17,12-14). Now the time has come to establish Peter as Pastor of all his flock: Totius Ecclesiae Pastor. But first he must give him the last teaching. If he, if the others with him and under his guidance in truth and charity, want to catch fish in the net of the Church, they will always have to throw the net on the right side. Why on the right side? Because He also threw the net on his right side. The river of grace and the Holy Spirit, the river of life, flows from the right side of the temple. The Word of the Gospel not accompanied by this river does not produce fruit.

After this, Jesus revealed himself again to 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.

On the right side of the temple flows the river that gives life to the whole earth and also to the Dead Sea. On the right side of Christ Jesus the river of grace and of the Holy Spirit gushed forth, which must give life to all of his Word. From the heart of Peter and the Apostles the river of grace and of the Holy Spirit of Christ must flow. If Peter and the Apostles sow the Word, without this river of grace and of the Holy Spirit, they will spend the whole night of time without ever taking men for the kingdom of God.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints ensure that every Christian is this river in the Church.