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Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP: Jesus is not just the great fisherman but the great fish

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The Australian delegation in Quito celebrating the news that Sydney will be hosting the 54th International Eucharistic Congress in 2028. Photo: John Nguyen.

This is the edited text of the homily given by Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP at the Mass for the Friday of the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress Quito, Ecuador, 13 September 2024. 

In 1962 an American entrepreneur, Lou Groen, faced a serious problem. His McDonald’s restaurant was situated in a Cincinnati neighbourhood that was 87 per cent Catholic and on Fridays, especially in Lent, he struggled to sell any hamburgers. With his customers more devout in fasting than fast-fooding, Groen had to do something or go bust. So, he created a meatless alternative, a fish patty with cheese and tartare sauce in a bun. 

Fearing the fish smell would put off non-Catholic patrons, the McDonald’s executives resisted but eventually they let Groen trial his “Filet-O-Fish” against another meat-free alternative, the “Hula Burger” made with a pineapple patty. The more popular would be added to the McDonald’s menu. On the day the Filet-O-Fish got 350 orders, whilst the poor Hula Burger managed only six sales! So the McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish is a Catholic invention! 

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Yet the fishburger goes back a long way before Groen and McDonalds—all the way back to Jesus Himself. We know He loved to party with people. Rather than a patristic theologian, scholastic theologian or liberation theologian, you might say Jesus was a culinary theologian! The Gospels often read like a cookbook, with talk of vineyards, grapes, wine and vinegar; wheat, flour, yeast and bread; fruit trees, olives, figs and mulberries; eggs, fish and pigeon; lamb, pork, goat and fatted calf; salt, herbs and spices. Jesus “the Good Cook” even gave instructions about organising dinners and table etiquette.  

Bishop Richard Umbers imparting a blessing on pilgrims. Photo: John Nguyen.

He described prayer as asking our Father for our daily bread and forgiveness as a father holding a feast to celebrate his son’s return. Christian life is bearing fruit and yielding a harvest. Preaching should be savoury and Christian leaders wise stewards who feed their charges properly. The kingdom of God is like a wedding party and in that kingdom Jesus’ disciples will eat and drink at His table. His food was to do his father’s will. And how does He leave Himself for us? Again, as food: His Body and Blood, under the species of bread and wine. Jesus is remembered in the meal, present in the celebration, substantial in the food and drink.  

Many did not approve. Some expected more asceticism from a holy man. Jesus’ enemies dubbed Him “glutton and drunkard.” And sure enough, there were many dinners with newlyweds, pharisees, friends, disciples, outcasts, crowds. At Wednesday’s Mass we heard His most recorded miracle—the picnic on the hills—when He multiplied loaves and fishes, enough fish-burgers to feed a multitude. And in our Gospel today (Jn 21:1-14) we witness His last miracle before ascending to the Father, and again bread and fish are on the menu, again in stunning quantity. He instructs the disciples to cast their nets starboard, and they are overwhelmed by the haul that follows. When the penny finally drops as to who it is, near-naked Peter leaps into the water to reach the Master first. On shore he’s greeted by Jesus cooking them all breakfast: coal-fired fish burgers—sadly without the fries, as the potato had not yet made its way from South America to the rest of the world!  

Why bread and fish again? Bread is obvious enough: it’s the staple food, even for the poor. Jesus is the staple food for our poor souls, the heavenly Bread of Life; God’s flesh for us to consume and so share his substance and life. Unlike the manna that sustained the Israelites in the desert (Ex 16:2-4, 12-15), this Living Bread feeds our souls and unites us to God in the most intimate way. Some diners couldn’t stomach this talk. But Jesus doubled down: My flesh is real food, My blood real drink, I am for you, all for you, receive Me and live 

Christ didn’t wait till the Last Supper to teach us this. He pre-enacted His Eucharist by taking bread and fish and, looking up to heaven, blessed and broke it, getting His apostles to distribute and collect it up. All ate and were satisfied. But receiving Him will sustain us, not just for a day, but through this life into life eternal. So, the Bread distributed that day in Galilee returns at the Last Supper, the Emmaus Eucharist, and Jesus’ last appearance back at the lake. But why is it paired here with fish, rather than wine? 

Australian pilgrims in Quito at the International Eucharistic Congress. Photo: John Nguyen.

Well, the fish was the symbol for the early persecuted Christians. When the Eucharist celebrated in secret in the catacombs, the symbol of a fish was used to identify their tombs and altars. After all, the first disciples were fishers—of fish, then of men. Fish featured in Jesus’ teaching and miracles, and so much of His public life was around the fishing villages of Galilee. He even ate fish after the Resurrection to prove He was no ghost. Tertullian, writing at the end of the second century, referred to Christians as “little fishes” led by the Big Fish, the Lord. By then the Greek word ICHTHUS, meaning fish, had become a pun or acrostic for “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour.” So, Jesus is not just the great fisherman but the great fish, who Augustine said entered the murky waters of sin and death to redeem us. He’s the Big Fish who swallowed Jonah so as to save him.  

So the Bread is the Fish, the Eucharistic Bread of Life is the ICHTHUS (Jesus Christ, Son of God and Saviour). The Eucharist we have pondered and celebrated in this congress is inseparable from who Jesus is for us. The Word was made Flesh, the Flesh was made Eucharist, the Eucharist made the church for us, that we might take and eat and commune with each other in Christ’s Paschal Mystery, and so participate together in His eternal life. From the Barque of Peter we, “the disciples whom Jesus loves”, sing the Eucharistic psalm of fraternity. We join John in declaring: “It is the Lord!” 

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