Reflection for March 28, 2008 Duc In Altum

The Gospel for today March 28 speaks about Jesus' 3rd apparition after He rose from the dead. St. John starts the text by showing us Peter telling his 6 other companions that he intends to go fishing. These six others decide to join him. However, they caught nothing for the night. While they were getting near the shore, Jesus asked them if they caught anything. They did not recognize Jesus yet and replied in the negative. Jesus told them to throw the net into the starboard side, after which they caught a haul-full! It was the beloved John who recognized Jesus, and told Peter, "It is the Lord."

In the Scriptures, the Synoptics mention this account before Jesus rose from the dead. The apostles' experience of Jesus' telling them to throw the net again ["Duc in altum"] was particularly striking for Peter, because he seemed to not have given Jesus the adulation He deserved when the latter told him to fish again. Didn't Peter tell the Lord that they had gone out to fish the night before and got nothing? But after they got a big catch, didn't Peter kneel down and tell Jesus, "I am a sinner." This catching fish then, being his way of life in the first place, has become for Peter something altogether personally significant because here he encountered Jesus so concretely and personally. This could have been one of the foundational experiences for Peter's later confession after being asked by the Lord "Who do you say I am?" "You are the Messiah, the Son of God."

In the Gospel of John, this catching fish episode is mentioned after Jesus rose from the dead. Note too that Peter had just denied Jesus three times as the latter predicted during the Last Supper.

In both instances, Peter showed the Lord the worst of himself - his tired self in the Synoptic accounts, and his denial of knowing Him to those who asked if he was in His company. And yet, here the Lord approaches him, again, and telling him to catch "men" from then on. It is indeed a poignant scene, one that sends shivers down the spine. The Lord has truly Risen, He who doesn't mark out our offenses but sees the many possibilities in us if only we are open to aligning our wills with God's, like He definitely did.