Daily Homily: It Is the Lord

Friday Within the Octave of Easter

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Acts 4:1-12
Psalm 118:1-2 and 4, 22-24, 25-27a
John 21:1-14

According to John, this was the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples. He appeared on the first day, the Sunday after his passion, some five times, and again on the eighth day when Thomas was present. The third appearance takes place on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Peter is fishing with six other disciples. They caught nothing by themselves, however, following the indications of Christ, they caught a great number of fish, 153 to be exact.

Unlike the Gospel of Luke (5:6), the net of fish is not torn. Thomas Aquinas interprets this to mean that the Church in this world (signified by the torn net) is ripped by heresy. But in the future, in heaven (signified by the unbroken net), there will be no schisms and peace will reign.

In the Acts of the Apostles, we find Peter proclaiming the truth of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. He is interrupted by the priests, the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees. The Sadducees, in particular, did not believe in a resurrection. Peter and John are arrested and judged the following day by the seventy-one members of the Sanhedrin. Unlike his timid responses to the servant girl on the night of Jesus’ trial, Peter is fearless and is filled with the Holy Spirit. He proclaims that the crippled man was healed in the name of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the stone, rejected by the elders of Israel, who has become the cornerstone of God’s New Temple.

Faith in Jesus bestows forgiveness of sins and salvation, and there is no salvation through anyone else. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Jesus is the Lord of all and the judge of the living and the dead. Jesus is the one mediator between God and men. Jesus Christ continues his presence and work of salvation in the Church and by means of the Church, which is his body (Dominus Iesus, 16).


Readers may contact Father Jason Mitchell at mitchelljason2011@gmail.com.

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Jason Mitchell

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