Feeding the Sheep

[A reflection on the Gospel chosen for the Third Sunday of Easter, May 4, 2025, which may be found clicking here, along with the other readings.]

The selection today from St. John's Gospel is interesting in that there are two seemingly unrelated items. First, the disciples have no luck fishing, Jesus appears, then they get a whole pile of fish and recognize Him (and have breakfast). Second, Our Lord takes St. Peter aside and enjoins him three times to feed and tend to His sheep.

Seemingly unrelated, but are they, really?

Our Lord Jesus tells St. Peter to feed the Flock of Christ, the Church, but with what? The first section shows the disciples trawling for food, but unsuccessful without the agency of the Lord. Now, we seriously are not advocating an all-fish diet based on this passage, but the implication is there that the sustenance of our souls comes not from our own efforts, but from the provision of our Lord, if we cast our nets where He tells us to cast them. The resulting haul is sufficient not just for the disciples, but far beyond their needs, out of which, one may suppose, the flock may be fed (again, sheep don't normally eat fish, but work with me here, it's a metaphor).

If we ourselves are spiritually starving because we have not gone to God for our sustenance, how then can we expect spiritually to feed our brothers and sisters? If we neglect our time with God, seeking Him out in all things, engaging with the Scriptures, participating in the prayers, rejoicing in the fellowship, then out of the resulting bankruptcy is there anything left to feed us, let alone sustain anyone else? If we do not go where He tells us to go, hear what He has to say, work at what He did, that is among the margins, caring for the cast off and oppressed, praying constantly, what then will we have to offer to anyone else?

"Simon, son of John, do you love Me?" If we love Him, then like St. Peter we follow Him, and it is in following Him that we have the catch to help sustain each other. Follow Him, engage with Him, obey Him, those life giving activities help us in our turn to bestow His life on others. If we love Him, then let us feed His sheep.