Homily

That night they caught nothing, writes the evangelist (Jn 21:3). That was the bitter experience of Peter, Thomas, Nathaniel, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples (seven in total, a symbol of universality and the first seed of the church) after an exhausting night of fishing. It is the same experience that many men and women have had on many days and many nights when they produce nothing. Night, in these cases, is not just a temporal notion, it is the sign of the Lord’s absence and the dismay it causes. It is the sign of so much effort in vain. But at dawn a man came near to the tired disciples and found them exhausted and disappointed. Whether we recognize it or not, the coming of Jesus brings the end of the night, and, more importantly, the beginning of a new day and new life.
The man asks whether they have any fish to eat. The seven were forced to admit their poverty and powerlessness. With friendly authority, Jesus, whom they still had not recognized, invited them to look elsewhere: "Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some." The seven men welcomed his invitation and obeyed without the least resistance, even though it would have made sense to resist. The catch was great and miraculous beyond any measure. In front of this experience of abundance and joy, one of the disciples, the one whom Jesus loved, recognized the voice and told the others: "It is the Lord!" Once more the proclamation of Easter - the victory of life over death - resounded from the mouth of one of the disciples. Feeling the nearness of the Lord, Simon Peter understood his unworthiness and immediately put some clothes on, because he had been naked, dove into the lake, and swam towards Jesus. The others followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish. Next, the Gospel shows us a warm, friendly, and tender scene: they all gathered around a charcoal fire with the fish and bread that Jesus had prepared. No one dared to ask him anything; they were speechless, as we always are when we are overcome by love and tenderness.
It was the third time Jesus had revealed himself to his disciples. For us it is the third Sunday that we gather around the invitation that Jesus extends to us in the Sunday Liturgy, the same invitation that he made to his friends that morning: "Come and eat." Today, like before, we see the same scene repeated and we hear the same words, "Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them." It is a simple scene, but it poses many questions, one in particular: the one Jesus asked Simon that day at dawn. It was not a question about his past or his disappointments, nor was it about his many fears. Jesus simply asked him: "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" Jesus asked Peter about love. He did not remind him of the betrayal of a few days ago, because love covers a great number of sins. And Peter, even though he had been ashamed in front of Jesus and had run to him, quickly answers: "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." It was a truer answer than the one that he had given that Thursday in the upper room when he told Jesus: "I am ready to go with you to prison and to death" (Lk 22:33). Now the answer was truer and more human. Peter did not deserve anything, but Jesus told: "Feed my sheep," that is, be responsible for the men and women that I am entrusting to you. How was Peter, the very one who had shown himself incapable of staying faithful, supposed to be responsible? Why him? Jesus chose Peter because now he was welcoming the love that Jesus himself was giving, and in love we become capable of speaking, giving witness, and taking care of others.
Jesus did not just ask him about love once, he asked him three times, that is always. Every day we are asked if we love the Lord. Every day we are entrusted with the responsibility of caring for others. The only strength and the only right we have to live is our love for the Lord. Jesus went on to tell Peter, "When you were younger, you used to fasten your belt and to go wherever you wished." Perhaps Peter remembered his youth in Bethany, when he got up early to go fishing, when he left the house and went wherever he wanted. Perhaps he also remembered his disappointments and maybe even the place where he met Jesus for the first time. As he was thinking about these things, Jesus added, "But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go." The Gospel explains that Jesus is talking about Peter’s death. But like every believer, Peter will not be left alone: the love we are asked about makes demands of Jesus before it asks anything of us. It is Jesus who loved us first and who will never abandon us, even when "someone else will fasten a belt around us and take us where we do not wish to go." What counts is our faithfulness to Jesus as in this scene on the shores of the sea, which is repeated for us every Sunday. That scene gives us a taste of eternity.