WHAT HAVE

YOU CAUGHT?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Easter Friday is, “What Have You Caught?”

Someone sees someone getting out of their car or coming off a pier or a boat with a fishing rod in hand and they ask, “Caught anything?”

People turn on TV or their computer or phone - in mid-morning and/or 4 in the afternoon to see how their stocks are going or went that day.  “Caught anything?

People come home from work to each other and say, “How was your day?”

People come home from golf and someone says, “How did you do?”

TODAY’S GOSPEL

In today’s gospel story - John 21: 1-14 -  Jesus is standing on the shore of the lake and they think he’s gone forever - and they were fishing all through the night - and he yells out, “Have you caught anything to eat?”

And they tell him, “Nothing! We have fished the whole night long and caught nothing!”

And Jesus tells them to cast their nets over the right side of their boats and they do and catch a lot of fish.

At that they realized it was Jesus - the Lord!

And they come to shore with their catch - 153 fish to be exact - and they see Jesus there with bread and fish on a charcoal fire - and the celebration begins.

They have recaught Jesus - whom they had considered the catch of their lives.

FISH

They were fishermen. Jesus was a carpenter.

In the beginning of the gospels Jesus caught the first four of his disciples at the shore: Peter and Andrew, James and John and told them from now on you’ll be catching people.

Fish - became the early Christian symbol: Christians here.

Fish - in Greek IXTHUS - I standing for Jesus -  There is no J in Greek - X for CHRISTOS - Christ,  the Anointed one - TH standing for Theos in Greek - the word for God - becoming Deus  in Latin - the word for God - becoming Deity in English or God - U - for UIOS - Son - and S for SOTER - Savior.

Fish - IXTHUS - seen today on many cars. This person is a Christian - or trying to be a follower of Jesus.

THREE GOSPEL SCENES  

There are three scenes in the gospels about “What have you caught?” 

In Matthew 13: 47-48 - Jesus tells about the kingdom of heaven being like someone who throws their net into the sea and they catch all sorts of stuff. Then they sit on the shore and pick out the good stuff - and put it in a basket - and the stuff not wanted is put on a pile to burn.

In Luke 5: 1-11 we have the call of Simon Peter - who is washing his nets at his boat at the Lake of Gennesaret. Jesus gets into Simon’s boat and tells him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then Jesus preaches to the crowd from Simon’s boat. Then after speaking,  Jesus tells Simon to launch out into the deep waters and lower his nets for a catch.

And Simon says that they had been working hard all night long and have caught nothing - but he adds, "At your command I’ll do it."

He does and  their nets were tearing because of all the fish they caught. They called to their partners for help and they filled the other boat - along with his own boat - till they were in danger of sinking.

At that Peter says to Jesus - "Depart from me for I am a sinful man."

And Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you’ll be catching people.”

Our first pope happened that day!

The third story was today’s gospel: the Resurrection Repeat of that second story

WHAT HAVE YOU CAUGHT?

Down, down, down deep in the deepest part of the lake called my soul - every human being thinks about this question: "What Have I Caught?" What Have I Done With My Life?

If we make it to old age - that question sits there on the shore of our life.

If we are a Christian - we might fear Jesus at the last Judgment looking at our life: what have you done with your life? Are you a sheep or a goat? Have you loved your brothers and sisters? Have you fed the hungry? Have you visited the sick? [Cf. Matthew 25:31-46.]

We know, we have heard, the gospel stories about how nice Jesus is - how forgiving is the Father of the Prodigal Son. We know of God’s unconditional love and understanding of us poor suckers - poor sinners - but down deep - that fear question lingers at our lake.

What have I caught?

We know we go into eternity - naked as we came into this life.

We go without net worth, size of house, number of children, name of car, degrees, where we’ve been, whom we met?

We go with an empty feeling - an uh oh! feeling.

Everyone…..

Albert Camus once wrote something that hits me at the age of 73. “I shall tell you a great secret, my friend. Do not wait for the last judgment. It takes place every day.”  [The Fall (La Chute), 1956].

CONCLUSION

Erik Erikson is famous for his 8 Stages of Life.  I’m sure many of you studied them in college or read about them somewhere. They are really worth studying at any time.

The first stage of life is very significant. The little baby, the little child, their first task in life is to learn Basic Trust. When I cry, I’m held. When I’m afraid,  mommy or daddy are right there as my strong support. The opposite is Basic Mistrust. Imagine going through the whole of life with the inability to trust anyone?  I don’t know if it’s true, but I’ve heard several times the statement, “The bigger the problem,  the earlier the problem.” 

I’ve also heard the comment:  "If you want to heal someone, you have to start with their grandmother."

Thank God for grandparents who sometimes make up for horrors in the minds of little children.

Erikson’s other stages really hit me - but the 8^th, the one I’m in now, really hits me.

It’s Ego Integrity vs. Despair.

When I look at my life - as I walk my old age walks - or when I sit in my chair at the wedding banquet and see all  those young people and old people dancing the Chicken Dance - or what have you - I ask Shakespeare’s question: what stands for my life? What have I done? [Cf. Sonnet 2]

I love Jesus right there - he says we can enter the garden at the last hour. He tells the thief on the cross he can come into paradise with Jesus that Friday - so it really is a good Friday.

Looking at today’s gospel,  I hear Jesus saying, "Lower your nets into your life - and see what you have caught?"  Some good stuff and some bad stuff.

Celebrate a meal with Jesus enjoying the Good Stuff of one’s life. Celebrate with fish and bread. Even if we have caught nothing or very little,  Jesus will feed us.

Do we believe that?

I do!