INTERPRETING THE MAIN LOGO of the 2ND GENERAL CONVOCATION of the MSSPP NAORCC (US) Archdiocese of California 

Looking at the main logo of the tarpaulin signage for the Second General Convocation of the MSSPP NAORCC (US) Archdiocese of California, that consists of a fishing boat over the blue waters of a lake, reminds us of last Friday’s (April 5, 2024) gospel, taken from St. John the Apostle 21:1-14, about the episode on the lake of Tiberias where the disciples fished the whole night (per totam noctem laborantis…) but caught nothing. 

In the morning, Jesus appeared to them on the seashore and asked if they caught anything. They answered, “nothing”. And he instructed them to put down the net on the right side of the boat, and, at his instruction, they did caught many fishes,  about 153 of them, not counting the small ones. 

During the sharing of reflections for the homily, a member of the community shared that the instance the disciples fished on the left side of the boat, they caught nothing; but when they fished on the right side of the boat on Jesus’ instruction, they caught many fish, almost 153 big ones. The sharer said that this is similar to how we us our left and right hands in doing things. The left hand is commonly associated with weakness and it generally stands for weakness. While the right hand is commonly associated with strength and it generally stands for strength Hence, when it is said that the disciples fished on the left side of the boat, it is tantamount to saying that they fished  with weakness, the result of which was that they caught nothing the whole night of fishing. But when they started to fish on the right side, at Jesus’ instruction, they were able to catch 153 big fishes that their net began to tear. The point that the sharer wanted to drive in his sharing is that when we do things using the right determination, the right motive, the right means and the right drive, we seem to gain fruits and success for our labor because we are doing it with strength; but, when we do things with weakness, with negativity, with the wrong focus and wrong motive, then we start to fail. 

Another sharer said that the 153 fishes that were caught in the net symbolize the many groups, or sects, of Christian churches that had sprouted inside the one Church that Jesus founded on earth symbolized by the one net that the disciples used to fish and the one boat that they rode in to fish. 

Borne from the above reflection of the gospel of last 5 April 2024 with the present interpretation as herein given, we apply it now to the 2^nd General Convocation of the MSSPP NAORCC (US) AoC, as it happily used for its main logo the symbolism of the fishing boat over the blue waters of a lake, to mean the following:

1.   The MSSPP NAORCC (US) Archdiocese of California should fish for more and better membership in the future with strength, by using the right determination, the right motive and means, the right focus and the right drive in other to reap a bountiful harvest of members through a fruitful ministry in the Church of Christ; and that

2.   The MSSPP NAORCC (US) Archdiocese of California, must always be aware that it is a legitimate and valid member of the one Mystical Body of Christ, and it shares in its holiness, catholicity, and apostolicity just like all the rest of the 153 big fishes that belonged to the one net of the Church of Christ which He founded here on earth.

 

dnmjr_9 April 2024