Francis and Dominic meet in Rome in the
spring of 2013
"Preach the Gospel, and if necessary use words.”
(St. Francis of Assisi)
April 14, 2013, Third Sunday of Easter
Acts 5:27-32, 40-41 Revelation 5:11-14 John 21:1-14
Alleluia,
alleluia.
A reading
from the holy Gospel according to John
Glory
to you, Lord.
At that time, Jesus revealed Himself
again to his disciples at Lake Tiberius[1]. He revealed himself in this way. Together were Simon
Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others disciples of Jesus. Simon
Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We also
will come with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night
they caught nothing. When it was already dawn, Jesus was standing on the shore;
but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He said to them, “Young
men, have you caught anything?” “Not a thing,” they answered. So He said to them, “Throw your net out over
the right side of the boat, and you will find some fish.”
A net full of 153 large fish
So they threw their net over the right side of the
boat, and they couldn’t pull it back in, because they had caught so many fish.
The disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter
heard that it was the Lord, he put on his tunic (for he was stripped to the
waist) and jumped into the water and swam ashore. The other disciples followed in the boat,
towing the net full of fish. They were not very far from land, only about a
hundred yards away. When they landed, they saw a charcoal fire there with fish
on it and some bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you just
caught.” Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net ashore, full of big fish -
153 in all.[2] Even though there were so many, the net did
not tear. Jesus said to them, “Come, and eat.”
None of the disciples dared to ask Him, “Who are you?” because they knew
it was the Lord. Jesus went over, took the bread, and
gave it to them. He did the same with the fish. This, then, was now the third
time Jesus showed himself to his disciples after He was raised from the dead.
The Gospel of the Lord
Praise to you, Lord
Jesus Christ
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Introduction
One whole month
It is
one whole month yesterday, March 13, that Jesuit Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio
was elected as the Church’s 266th pope.
It seems like only yesterday that white
smoke appeared from a makeshift chimney on the Sistine Chapel, announcing
“Habemus papam!” “We have a pope!” And the new Pope took the name of Francis – the
name of that poor man from Assisi who, when he was praying before a crucifix in the
dilapidated chapel of San Damiano, heard a voice from the crucifix say: “Francis,
repair my Church!” There is much hope and there are good signs that the new
Francis is going to repair the Church.
Two mighty catches of fish
One day when Jesus
was in Peter’s boat on Lake Tiberius, and the fishing was very poor, He
commanded Peter to launch off into the deep, and let his nets down for a catch.
Peter lowered his nets and caught such a mighty catch of fish that the nets
were about to break. The miraculous catch made Peter fall to his knees and
exclaim, “Depart from me, oh Lord, for I am a sinful man!”He and the others
were amazed at the large number of fish they caught. Jesus said to Peter, “Do
not be afraid. From now you will be fishers of men.” (Lk. 5:1-10)
In
today’s gospel there is another mighty catch of fish. The Lord’s death seemed
to put a dismal end to everything, so Peter said to the other apostles, “I am going fishing.” He wasn’t saying, “I’m going to take
a day off and go fishing;” He was really saying, “I’m going back to my old job
of fishing.” After Jesus’ death, the apostles went back to their old job of
fishing. One night when they hadn’t caught a thing, the risen Lord suddenly
appeared to them from shore, and told them to throw their nets over the right side of the boat. They obeyed,
and they made such a mighty catch of fish that they couldn’t pull the net into
the boat; they had to drag it to shore where the risen Lord was stoking up a
charcoal fire to fry the fish. St. John
says they caught 153 big fish in all.” (Jn. 21:1-11)
Fishers of men
When
Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected pope, the Cardinal Camerlengo placed
a newly crafted ring on the finger of the newly elected pope. The ring bears
the image of St. Peter in a boat fishing,
and it also has the new Pope’s name of `Francis’ engraved on it. It’s called
the Fisherman Ring. The ring with it
imagery alludes to the time when Jesus was walking by Lake Galilee and saw
Peter and his brother Andrew catching fish with a net, and Jesus said to them,
“Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” (Mk. 1:17)
Pope
Francis – a good fisher of men
Right off the bat Pope Francis emitted very
promising signs to the City of Rome and the World (Urbi et Orbi) that he was
going to be a good `fisher of men.’ On Easter Sunday,
March 31, he celebrated Mass in the company of more than 250,000 people in St.
Peter's Square. After Mass Pope Francis mounted the pope mobile which
made its way through that huge sea of humanity gathered in the square. At a very poignant
moment, Francis stopped the pope mobile in order to cradle and kiss a
physically disabled boy passed to him from the crowd. The boy’s name is Dominic Gondreau. He is eight years old and has
cerebral palsy. He is the son of Christiana and Dr. Paul Gondreau - a faculty
member of Providence College in Providence, RI. Little Dominic struggled to hug
the Pope, and when he succeeded, a huge smile of satisfaction suffused his
face.
The full story
The full story of what happened
is heart-warming. As the pope mobile was making its way through St. Peter’s
Square, an usher signaled to Dominic’s mother Christiana to get her disabled
son from his chair, and to follow him. As the pope mobile approached, the usher
motioned to the Pope’s driver to stop. Then with the help of Christiana, he
held Dominic up to Pope Francis who took the boy in his arms and kissed him
Dr. Gondreau was
not in the section reserved for the impaired and for one other person only, to
be in attendance of the one impaired. His wife Christiana was the one chosen to
be in attendance of Dominic. So Dr. Gondreau was not aware that Dominic was
being embraced by the Pope, until his other son Lucas (who saw it all on a
giant video screen) screamed, “It’s Dominic!” When Lucas said a second time,
“The Pope is holding Dominic,” Gondreau looked at the video screen and saw the
two embracing. “Wow! I was speechless, and I was moved to tears, along with
Lucas,” said Gondreau who described the moment as “an incredibly moving
encounter between a modern Francis and a modern Dominic.” (Biographers tell us
that in the summer of 1215 St. Francis met St. Dominic in Rome.)
The story went viral
The story of Pope Francis kissing impaired Dominic went
viral: many of the major television news outlets in America
showed the video images in their news reports, including CNN, NBC, ABC, and
Fox. Still images were carried in newspapers worldwide including Le
Figaro, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, and The
Philadelphia Inquirer.
Conclusion
Without saying a word
