"Put out into Deep Water...for a Catch"

In today’s Gospel, Luke 5: 1-11, Jesus is teaching a crowd of people. The crowd is pressing upon him,listening, Luke tells us, “to the word of God”—truly to the Word of God made flesh.  Jesus, feeling about to be crushed, spots Simon’s fishing boat a ways off shore—the fishermen were washing their nets—so Jesus walks out to the boat, gets into it and pushes out a bit further to secure some space for Himself. When he finishes teaching, he says to Simon: “Put out into the deep water and pay out your nets for a catch.”  Simon does so, even though he and his partners have been fishing all night, are worn out, so to speak, know that there are no fish in the area yet does what Jesus asks of them: Pays out into the deep and, to their amazement, have an overwhelming catch. “Who is this man,” Peter and his partners must have wondered.   I can imagine Peter saying to himself: “We’ve fished all night and caught nothing.He says: ‘Go out into the deep and you will find fish.'”  Peter may have said to himself initially:  “What? He’s not a professional fisherman! I am.”  Then says: “Okay, Lord, We will go out into the deep, as you have asked of us.”

Following this large catch of fish, Peter falls on his knees and says to Jesus: “Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man.” That does not faze Jesus. He  says to Simon and his partners, James and John: “’Do not be afraid; from now on it is people you will be catching.’  Then, bringing their boats back to land, they left everything and followed him.”

There are several lessons in this reading: 1) the importance of setting boundaries, creating space for

ourselves, as Jesus did. Do you and I recognize when people are “crushing” us and we need to create

space for ourselves? 2) that Jesus is our Master, knowing what we need to do to succeed at what we are doing? Do we listen to His voice, His instructions, as Simon did, even when they make no sense to us? 3) being honest about our situation, especially, naming our failures, identifying out frustrations and sharing those with the Lord, as Simon had done when he told Jesus that they “have worked hard all night long and caught nothing,”  4) the importance of falling on our knees before Jesus and recognizing our sinfulness. Do we recognizing our sinfulness and the absolute holiness of our God? 5) Hearing Jesus say to us: ‘Be not afraid; from now on it is people you will be catching'" for God's Kingdom. For what am I "fishing"and 6) leaving everything to follow Jesus’  instructions when the things we need to leave behind would block us from knowing Jesus, doing the will of our God through Christ Jesus and bringing other people into God’s Kingdom of love and mercy, generous service and increased love,  repentance and forgiveness?

Looking for Jesus

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Mary Magdalene, the first person to witness to, believe and to proclaim the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.  Very early in the morning,  while it was still dark, Mary went to the tomb, the Gospel, John 20: 1-2, 11-18, tells us. She finds the stone rolled away from the entrance. She enters the tomb looking for Jesus’ body and it is missing. Frantically and in tears, she leaves the tomb and rushes back to the apostles, proclaiming: “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” She rushes back to the burial place. Weeping, she looks into  the tomb and sees “two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the Body of Jesus had been….’Woman, why are you weeping?’ …’They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him’” (John 20: 13). She turns around and sees Jesus looking at her but she does not recognize him until he says her name “Mary.”

Imagine having lost your very, very best friend, your spouse, your son/daughter. He/she dies and you go to the gravesite to put flowers on the grave. The burial place has been dug up and the coffin is gone. Imagine, too, your reaction and that you frantically rush to the parish office to announce your findings.  “The grave of my loved one has been desecrated; the body is gone.” Then you return to the cemetery, peer back into the empty grave and at the bottom of the grave site stand two angels, one where the head of the coffin would have been and one where the foot of the coffin would have been. The angels in unison say to you: “Why are you weeping? Why are you looking for the deceased among the dead.  She/he is risen, living a resurrected life.”   You turn around. Behind you stands your loved one. You do not recognize the person until he/she says your name.  

That is the relationship Mary had with Jesus! She never really lost Him. There He is.  In her excitement and joy, she falls on her knees and clasped His legs, hanging on to Him, not ever wanting to let go! He says to her: Mary, “[s]top holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.  But go to my brothers [and sisters] and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God”  (John 20:  17-18).  And we know the rest of the story:” I will return to take you to myself.”

Moving Over for Christ to Reign

In today’s Gospel, John proclaims Jesus’ identity.  When John saw Jesus coming toward him, he said to the people gathered around:  “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. He is the one of whom I said, ‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me….I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky and remain upon him. I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”

In John 3:30, St. John says:   “He must increase but I must decrease.”  Many of those who were following John left him and became disciples of Jesus.  How do I react when another person’s ministry is growing and mine is shrinking? When other people bring forth ideas that grab others’ attention, am I eager to support  those ideas or do I become jealous? What do I do when another person is chosen over me, when another is recognized for his/her work and I am left standing in the background?  Am I willing to let go when younger entrepreneurs, younger disciples of Christ;  a son/daughter, if I am a parent, takes over my role in the company; a  newer member of my religious community takes my place in ministry and I am left to  take a back seat, so to speak?  Letting go and relinquishing my place, welcoming other’s into a position I once held, seeing others succeed and being in the spotlight that I once “possessed” can be very difficult.  Like St. John, you and I are called to point people toward Jesus, the Son of God made flesh, the Savior of the world.  We are called to build up the Kingdom of God by getting out of God’s way, so to speak.  How well do I do that in order that the work I do, in Jesus’ name, bears fruit that will last?