Sermon 229M

Sermon 229/M

TREATISE ON THE SIXTH DAY OF EASTER

Differences between the two fishings of the disciples of Christ.

Your Charity knows that these readings of the holy Gospel are commemorated with annual solemnity as witnesses to the resurrection of the Lord. Just as the reading renews memory, so does the exposition of the reading; and so we will say, with the Lord's help, what you are accustomed to hear every year. But if the reading needs to be renewed in memory, which can be read at other times in the Gospel, how much more so the sermon, which is only heard once a year? The Lord appeared to His disciples after His resurrection at the Sea of Tiberias and found them fishing and catching nothing. They caught nothing while fishing at night; daylight broke, and they caught, for they saw Christ the day, and cast their nets at the word of the Lord to catch. We find, however, two fisheries made by the disciples of Christ, at the word of Christ; the first when He chose them and made them apostles; the second now, after He rose from the dead. Let us compare them, if you please, and carefully observe what distinguishes them; for it pertains to the edification of our faith. Therefore, first, when the Lord found the fishermen, whom He had not yet found before, even throughout the whole night they caught nothing, they labored without purpose. He commanded that they cast the nets: He did not say: To the right; He did not say: To the left; but: Cast, He said, the nets. They cast... so as to load two boats, so that they almost sank by the multitude of fish; then there was such a great multitude of fish that the nets were breaking. So held that fishing: what then of this one? He said: Cast the nets on the right side. Before the resurrection, the nets were cast everywhere; after the resurrection, the right side is chosen. Then in the first fishing, the boats were pressed, the nets were broken; in this latest one after the resurrection, neither boat is pressed, nor net is broken. In the first fishing, no number of fish is mentioned; in this one after the resurrection, the number of fish is certain. Let us bear the first, so that we may come to the latest. What did I say: Let us bear the first? Behold the nets, the nets of the word, the nets of preaching, behold the nets. Let the Psalm say: I have declared, and I have spoken; they were multiplied beyond number. It is certain that it happens now: the Gospel is proclaimed, Christians are multiplied beyond number. If all would live well, the ship would not be pressed; if heresies and schisms would not be divided, the net would not be broken. Why then, in the first fishing, were there two boats? Recall, brothers: they themselves are those two walls, circumcision and uncircumcision, which meet in the chief cornerstone and find the kiss of peace there. But in the latest fishing, there is perfect unity; for it is the right side, it has nothing of the left. It is the holy Church, which is now among the few laboring among many wicked; it will be in that certain and defined number, where no sinner is found; for it is the right side, it has nothing of the left. And there will be great fish: for all will be immortal, all will live without end. What is so great as that which has no end? And it pertained to the Evangelist to renew in memory the first fishing. Why did he add: And although there were so many great fish, the nets were not broken? As if he says: Recall that first fishing, where the nets were broken. Here will be the kingdom of heaven, no heretic will bark, no schismatic will separate himself; all will be inside, they will be in peace.

The number seventeen is the fullness of the law through the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

And all, how many will there be? Will there be one hundred and fifty-three? Far be it, far be it from us, that even in this people, who stand here before me, I should say there are so few who will be in the kingdom of heaven, where thousands, innumerable thousands, whom John saw clothed in white robes. This he said: They came from every tribe and tongue, a number which no one can count. What then does this number mean? I teach some, I remind others; those who have not heard, let them learn; those who have heard and forgotten, let them remember; those who hold it, let them be strengthened in memory by my reminder. The explanation of this number begins with seventeen: it is the symbol of all the saints, all the faithful, all the just who will be in the kingdom of heaven. Seventeen: ten for the law, seven for the spirit of grace. Place the law: no one does it, no one fulfills it. Add the aid of the Spirit: what is commanded is done, because God helps. What does the Law say? You shall not covet. Taking opportunity through the commandment, sin deceived me, he says, and by it killed me; and the Law came in so that the trespass might increase. Add the Spirit: the fulfillment of the Law is love. But from where comes love? The love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. The number seven recommends the Spirit, as one who reads knows: but let him hear, who reads carelessly, or perhaps cannot read. God recommends the Holy Spirit thus through the prophet Isaiah: The Spirit, he says, of wisdom and understanding, of counsel and might, of knowledge and piety, the spirit of the fear of God. This is the sevenfold Spirit, which is also invoked over the baptized. The Law is the decalogue: for ten commandments were written on tablets, but still stone, due to the hardness of the Jews. After the Spirit came, what did the Apostle say? You are our letter, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God; not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. Remove the Spirit, the letter kills; because it makes one guilty, it does not liberate the sinner. For this reason the Apostle says: For we are not competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence is from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Therefore, join seven to ten, if you wish to fulfill righteousness. When you are commanded to do something by the law, ask the Spirit to help you.

The symbolism of the number one hundred fifty-three.

We have commended seventeen: but how far they are from one hundred fifty-three! However, many know what we are about to say: those who know, bear with the delays. When two walk on the road, one fast and one slow, it is in the power of the fast one to walk together, if he waits for the other. Therefore, he who knows what I am about to say is fast; but let him wait for the slow companion, until he too is instructed about the seventeen. One hundred fifty-three are formed if those seventeen are counted in such a way that you start from one and add all up to seventeen. For if you start saying: One, two, three, four, you reach ten, and you will not find more than ten in your hand. But if you count thus: one and two, already they are three; and three, already they are six; and four, already they are ten; and five, already they are fifteen; and six, already they are twenty-one; and seven, already they are twenty-eight; and eight, already they are thirty-six; and nine, already they become forty-five; and ten, already they are fifty-five. Behold, now we are close, and there is hope of reaching it because we have advanced so much. Therefore, add eleven, they become sixty-six; add twelve, they become seventy-eight; add thirteen, they become ninety-one; and add fourteen, they become one hundred five. Now even the slow follow the fast. Therefore, add fifteen, they become one hundred twenty; add sixteen, they become one hundred thirty-six; add seventeen, they become one hundred fifty-three. Therefore, there will be all those who run to seventeen, who fulfill the law of God, with the help of the Spirit of God.