And he said unto them,
Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and you shall find.
They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fish.
Read Chapter 21
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
He saith unto them, &c. For indeed Jesus by His hidden power had collected this multitude of fishes on the right side of the boat, and so the Apostles who had been fishing all night at the left side had taken nothing. From thence we learn, moraliter, that we often toil and labour in vain because we fish at the left side without Jesus, instead of at the right with Jesus.
Hearken now to S. Augustine (Tract122): "In the capture of the fish is set forth a sacrament of the Church, to wit, what shall be at the last resurrection: to set forth which it is signified that it is as it were the end of a book, which should be, as it were, the promium of a narrative which is to follow. And the seven disciples by their number signify the end of time. For all time is included in seven days. The shore signifies the end of the world, for it is the boundary of the sea. And as the Church, such as it shall be at the end of the world, is here meant, so by another fishing is signified the Church such as it ...
Our Lord Jesus Christ once more gladdens His disciples with the enjoyment of the sight of Himself, Whom they so greatly longed to see, and vouchsafes unto them a third visit, in addition to the other two, in order that He might confirm their minds, and render them unchangeably steadfast in faith towards Him. For how after they had seen Him not once, but now for the third time, could they fail to have their minds released from all wavering in the faith, and to become faithful instructors of the rest of mankind in the doctrines of the religion of Christ? Peter then goes forth with the others a fishing. For when he was bound on this errand they hurried with him, and doubtless our Saviour Christ is here seen working for their good. For He once said to them, when He put upon them the yoke of their discipleship, and called them to the dignity of apostleship: Come ye after Me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. In order, then, that He might convince them by a palpable sign that eve...
