John 21:4

When the morning was come, &c. To show that this capture of fish was the result of His grace, not of their own industry. For (naturally) in the morning fish flee away from the light and the noise into the depths of the sea.

They knew not. Because He appeared to them in another form, as He did to the Magdalene (cap. xx. 14). In sooth Christ desired to be recognised rather by the miraculous draught of the fish than by His (human) form; for this was more befitting incarnate God.

Mystically : S. Gregory says, "The sea signifies this present world, which, in the tumults of affairs and the corruptible waves of life, dashes against itself. But the solidity of the shore signifies the perpetuity of the everlasting rest. The disciples therefore as yet were engaged in the waves of this mortal life. But the Lord was now standing on the shore, towards which Peter, to whom the Church was specially committed, draws the fishes, showing to the faithful the stability of eternal peace. This he did by his preaching and his epistles. This he does still by daily signs and miracles. Ver. 5. Jesus therefore, &c. As though He said, 0 fishermen, have ye any fish to sell Me? For Christ here appeared to His disciples in an unknown form, like a grave merchantman, wishing to purchase fish. So S. Chrysostom. Wherefore He addresses them as boys (pueros), as though they were labourers. Or "little boys" (παίδια), addressing them as His children out of love.

Any meat : Greek πζοσφάγιον, Vulgate pulmentarium, meaning any food which is eaten with bread, as we use seasoning. Also by this word pulmentarium, Christ meant fish. For, as Plutarch says, although there are many sorts of seasoning, fish is especially so called, because by the nutriment which it affords, and the facility with which it can be cooked, it surpasses other kinds. Also because most of the ancients, indeed all men before the Deluge, as I have shown upon Gen. ix., fed not upon flesh, but upon fish. Ver. 6. 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 (Tract. 122): "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 proëmium 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 is now. Therefore on that occasion Jesus did not stand upon the shore, but went up into the ship. Then the nets were not cast at the right side, in order not to denote the good only; nor yet at the left not to denote the bad only: but indifferently on both sides, to signify that the good were mingled with the bad. But now the net is cast on the right side, to signify the good only, who are reserved for the resurrection of life. And they will appear on the shore, that is, in the end of the world when they arise. For the Church possesses them at the end of this life in the sleep of peace, lying hid as it were in the deep, until the net shall come to the shore. And what was signified in the first fishing by the two ships in this place is figured by the 153, namely the elect of the two dispensations, the circumcision and the uncircumcision."

They cast therefore, &c. Behold the reward and fruit of ready obedience, and that obedience to one unknown, and as it seemed, a stranger. But Christ had inwardly inclined their hearts to do this. This multitude of fishes mystically represents the multitude of the faithful which Peter and the Apostles afterwards caught by the net of evangelical preaching, and converted to Christ. So SS. Augustine, Gregory, Chrysostom, &c. Ver. 7. Therefore that disciple, &c. You will ask, how was it that John was the first to recognise Christ? Cyril attributes it to the keenness of his intellect. So does S. Chrysostom. Peter, he says, was the more fervent, but John had more sagacity, and therefore was the first to recognise Christ. But I reply that, whilst Peter was occupied in drawing up the net full of great fishes, John more carefully looked at Jesus, and Jesus first presented His appearance to S. John, because He most chiefly loved him, and because he was most pure. Wherefore S. Jerome rightly says (Epist. ad Pammach.), "First is John's virginity to recognise the virgin form of Christ. 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.'"

Mystically : the more familiar and intimate any one is with God by prayer, the more does he perceive, penetrate, contemplate, and admire God, and the attributes of God. In fine, as John because of his virginity was dear to Christ, so also he himself wonderfully loves those who are chaste and virgins. Hear what the Abbot Adelred writes in his life of King Edward the Confessor. "S. Edward never denied the petition of any one who asked in the name of S. John, for him after the Prince of the Apostles he chiefly loved. Once it happened that in the absence of the chamberlain a certain foreigner importunately asked the king for alms in the name of S. John. So the king gave him a precious ring, because he had nothing else at hand. After this it happened that two Englishmen went to Jerusalem to worship the tomb of the Saviour. One day it came to pass that they missed the high road, and were wandering out of the way when the sun went down, and all was dark. Not knowing what to do, or whither to turn, a certain venerable old man appeared to them, and led them to the city. There they were hospitably entertained; a table was spread, and their weary limbs were refreshed with sleep. When the morning was come, as they went out of the city, the old man said to them, 'My brethren, doubt not that you will return to your own country in the greatest prosperity, for God will make your way prosperous. And for love of your king I will keep my eyes upon you in all the way by which ye go. I am John, the Apostle of Christ, who entertain the utmost love for your king because of the merit of his chastity. Take back to him this ring which he once gave me in the habit of a pilgrim. Tell him that the day of his departure draws nigh. Within six months I will visit him, that with me he may follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.' When he had said thus he disappeared." For this reason those who love virginity and purity are wont to ask S. John to be their patron, and to invoke his aid, especially when they are troubled with assaults of the flesh: and they experience his help. To give a single example out of many: S. Colette, a virgin of wonderful austerity and sanctity, the reformer of the Order of S. Clare, that she might keep her virginity spotless, chose S. John as her patron. And not in vain: for S. John appeared to her, and by a golden ring betrothed her as a virgin spouse to himself.

When Simon Peter heard, &c., he girt, &c. Greek τὸν ε̉πενδύτην διεξώσατο, he put on his tunic over his clothes. Whence it is plain that he was not before wholly naked, but only, after the fashion of work-men, stripped of his outer garment.

And cast himself into the sea: either swimming, as Chrysostom and others think, or by wading through the sea, as Bede and Maldonatus say. For the shore was near. Peter being the more fervent, came to Christ more promptly than the others. It is improbable that Peter upon this occasion walked upon the waters. For this would have been rash, since Christ did not now bid him do it.

Two hundred cubits : Mystically, Bede says, by the 200 cubits is expressed the twofold power of charity. For by love of God and our neighbour we draw nigh to Christ. Ver. 10. As soon as they were come to land, &c. Here was another miracle of Christ, that He for His disciples suddenly coming to Him cooked fish, and prepared a dinner. Cyril thinks that this fish had been speedily drawn from the depths of the sea. But Chrysostom thinks that it had been created out of nothing. With greater probability, Leontius and others say that Christ produced the fish, the coals, the fire, and the bread out of the atmosphere, or some other substance, as He did the loaves when He multiplied them. Christ did this to show (1.) that the great draught of fishes was His own work, and that it was He who had collected all those fishes at the right side of the ship. (2.) That He had no need of them for Himself, but had done it for the sake of His Apostles. Mystically, saith Bede, out of S. Augustine. The broiled fish is Christ in His Passion. He Himself (deigned to lie hid in the waters of our human nature. He willed to be taken with the hook of a death like ours. And He who was made a fish in His Humanity, became the Bread that feeds us by His Divinity.