Our Sacred Liturgy is both very Roman and very Catholic.  It is Roman, because it pertains to the city of Rome, and many details of the liturgical calendar connect themselves very deeply to that city and its environs.  It is also very Catholic, meaning it is universal: it applies everywhere.

This Easter week, we are in a liturgical time where ‘Easter Sunday’ is celebrated every day for the whole week. In times past, during the Easter Octave, those who were received into the Church at Easter were to retain their white albs for the entirety of the week. Indeed, Low Sunday (this Sunday) a Sunday of about eight different names, has as one of its names Dominica in Albis, which means white.   But, more precisely, it is not in albis, meaning wearing white just for that Sunday.  It is actually Dominica in Albis Depositis. It is the day in which you are meant to take off your white alb for the first time in a week. The celebration of the Resurrection in the Roman understanding is meant to take place for a whole week. That is the way in which all octaves developed.

We continue to celebrate the Feast of Our Lord’s Resurrection for the entirety of a week. That is eight days from one Sunday to the next.  This shows us that traditions within the Church deeply connect us into the experience of the Apostles in Rome. The city of Rome is founded upon the twin Apostles of Peter and Paul.

Numbers in the Bible always have a meaning. They are not merely a detail, giving us just background information. Numbers in the Bible always have a significance, because in the Semitic understanding, and particularly that of the Israelites, numbers have a sacred meaning. And here the 153 fish in today’s Gospel relate to the known peoples of the world at that time. The number 153 is a specific reference. The apostles who have gone back to their old ways in Galilee, gone back fishing, need to be reset again by the Lord who comes along the Sea of Galilee as he did before.  Once again, the Apostles have been unsuccessful in their fishing. And just as He did before, Our Lord gives them advice regarding how to have a successful catch of fish. This time, though, the Apostles catch 153 different types of fish.  Our Lord is resetting the whole purpose of their mission. The 153 fish are the entire peoples of the world that they will now be going out to catch using their nets, not made by human hands, but the nets made by Grace.