DID YOU KNOW? The Symbolic 153 in the Gospel of St. John

***DID YOU KNOW? The Symbolic 153 in the Gospel of St. John***

It is at least 900 years since Our Lady instructed St. Dominic, “Preach my Psalter” in order to defeat the Albigensian heresy. In this way, the Virgin “codified” what had been, up to that point, the organic growth of the Psalter. By St. Dominic’s time, the “Psalter” had reached its maturity and would grow no more, which is proven by the Virgin’s simple words to the saint, “Preach my Psalter.”

...Properly speaking...the Angelic Psalter is comprised of 15 decades (150 Hail Marys) which follow the number pattern of the Psalms of David. In the Psalter, the total number of Hail Marys prayed are 153, because there are 3 “introductory” Hail Marys in which the faithful ask God, through the intercession of the Virgin, for an increase in the virtues of faith, hope, and charity.

Furthermore, 153 is the symbolic number of the Church, which cannot offer redemption to souls without Christ. The Church Fathers understood this about the number 153 from the Gospel of St. John, wherein the Apostle relates the third appearance of Christ after His Resurrection.

St. Peter decided to go fishing and eight disciples decided to join him. All night they labored, but they had no success. When the morning came (presumably a reference to the daybreak, like the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe), a man appeared and asked them, “Children, have you any meat? They answered him: No” (John 21:5).

In other words, the man (who was Christ) asked if they were successful in their fishing but, even though they labored together, they had to answer in the negative. He instructed them to again cast their nets on the right side of the ship into the lake. (Our Lord sits on the right side of His Father in heaven.) St. John says at this instruction he immediately recognized Jesus, and he spoke aside to St. Peter, telling him it was the Lord.

This last section of St. John’s Gospel is incredibly full in doctrinal teaching: “Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land, full of great fishes, one hundred and fifty-three. And although there were so many, the net was not broken.” (John 21:11)

The entire section is clear that Peter is the head of the Church, that the other disciples must work in accordance with him, and that a rich harvest of souls awaits - but that no work is fruitful without Christ. The Scriptures are also clear that the number 153 is symbolic of the Church, established by Christ and which He builds through Peter. It was, after all, Peter who pulled up the 153 fish.

This is why the Psalter of Our Lady is comprised of 153 Hail Mary’s, and why the Psalter is a meditation on the entire work of Redemption, offered by Jesus Christ Our Lord and made possible by the cooperation of the Virgin Mary, who is called “the cause of our salvation.”

A Rosary, as we call it now, is one-third of the Psalter. Heaven asked for no changes to the Psalter until Our Lady of Fatima instructed a small addition at the end of each Rosary decade, the “O my Jesus” prayer. This prayer is not a radical change to the Psalter; in fact, it can be likened to the budding of a flower on a mystical tree which has stood for ages.

Excerpted from "Guadalupe: Secrets of the Image"

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