1. Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Today’s Gospel speaks about the two forms of evangelization. Pope Benedict described the first as ‘classical’ evangelization. And the second as ‘new’ evangelization. Pope Francis and most of the Bishops have not described either one. Their evangelization, specially the one to be used by the apostles of mercy is neither; they, seemingly, will use a Protestant form of proselytizing.
Since the time Pope Benedict seemingly stepped down, these two forms of evangelization had never been mentioned again within the Catholic Church. The ‘new’ evangelization everybody is mentioning today is NOT the ‘new’ evangelization of Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI.
2. St. Luke, in today’s Gospel describes the ‘classical’ form of evangelization; this is about the apostle’s boat ride in Lake Genesareth. St. John, also, writes about a boat ride in Lake Tiberias. Both are the same lake called Galilee. The names used depends on how near the boat was in what town. Let us first look at the similarities between the two.
Because both are evangelization both should be essentially the same. And, in fact, they are identical. In both boat rides, the apostles lowered the net to catch fish. The lowering of the net to catch fish is evangelization.
3. The nets.
The net in both incidents are the teachings of Christ as given to the apostles and later on interpreted by the Fathers of the Church. That is why the Church always states that her doctrines come from both Scriptures and the Fathers of the Church. Divine Revelation and Tradition are both taught in both evangelization. These two are not taught in today’s evangelization used by the Pope and the many bishops; their teachings are not from the apostles and the Fathers of the Church, for example, the new evangelization used in the 500 jubilee of Christianity in the Philippines is NOT the ‘new’ evangelization referred to by John Paul II and Benedict XVI.
4. Who orders the lowering.
When the nets were lowered by men, like Peter, James and John, they caught nothing. But when the nets were lowered because Christ commanded so, they caught many fishes. Sadly, for a long time now, most of the missionaries are lowering the nets on their own without waiting for the order of Christ. And this had been going on until now. So most often they catch nothing.
Should you always wait for Christ to command you when to lower the nets? In both cases, Yes. How do you do that? By becoming like the apostles…..contemplatives as Pope Benedict emphasized. Only contemplatives know when to lower the nets in obedience to the orders of Christ. Pope Francis had just ordered the missionaries of mercy to lower the nets all over the world. Who ordered them? And what was the net made of; Scriptures and the Father of the Church? If not, then they will surely catch nothing for the Catholic Church. Maybe they will catch something for the Protestant sect.
5. Filled with fishes
In St. Luke’s Gospel, the boat was filled with both good and bad fishes that they had to call the other boat to help them lest they sink. The Catholic Church caught many fishes both the good and the bad that they needed other Churches to contain all the fishes like the other defective church mentioned in the Apocalypse. And remember that Judas was with them in that fishing boat trip. Showing that when there are traitors in the Church and she lowers the net indiscriminately anywhere even under Christ’s order, both the good and the bad will be netted in, the Church will have too many problematic members, and the net is in danger of breaking up (i.e. the teachings and doctrines will be destroyed.)
The Church today is the result of the ‘classical’ evangelization. Though formerly (like during the Council of Trent) the ‘classical’ evangelization was used, the net was indeed lowered as ordered by Christ, the net caught many fishes both good and bad, the net of the doctrines and moral began to tear and many fishes transferred to other Protestant boats where Judas probably was.
6. Today, specially after the Bishop’s Synod of 2012, it was evident that most bishops and cardinals were ignorant of the ‘classical’ evangelization. So from the ‘classical,’ things became worse. Evangelization became purely Protestant proselytizing. So Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Ratzinger agreed that it was time for the ‘new’ evangelization, which is the one described by St. John in his last chapter.
When the Church is filled with both the good and the bad, when among the bad are bishops and popes like Judas, when even the other church are filled with the good and the bad, when the net that is the teachings of the apostles and the Fathers are at breaking point,….then it is time for the ‘new’ evangelization. Those who do not know the ‘classical’ evangelization will surely not know the ‘new’ evangelization.
7. The ‘new’ evangelization.
This is the ‘new’ evangelization described by St. John as seven apostles fishing in a calm sea in the sea of Tiberias. Like before, St. Peter, by now the first Pope, ordered the lowering of the nets. And they caught nothing. See, even if the Pope is the one who orders the evangelization, they will catch nothing.
Christ had to order the act of evangelization or the lowering of the net. So Christ ordered them. But strange, He ordered them to lower the net ONLY on the right side; not anywhere. Note that this time Christ still orders when to lower the net and He adds where the net is to be lowered. Only Christ would know where to lower the net. Even a Pope with his whole ecumenical council cannot know when and where to lower the net.
And, voila, the apostles nets in the new members of the Church of this last days. The last members of the Church will be taken from the right side only and they were 153 large fishes. And these were the fishes that were brought to shore, their heavenly kingdom where Christ awaits them.
Who are these? The 153 fishes according to St. Thomas of Aquinas are the people with the four moral virtues and the three theological virtues. Then after describing this scenario, St. John states that this is the last chapter because after this nothing follows.