Sunday Reflections

In 1981 I went to the Maritime Provinces of Canada to visit some friends and family.  I spent three days in Prince Edward Island, visiting a Sister of St. Martha I had studied with in London, Ontario.  One day Sister Irene told me that we were going on a fishing trip.  I am not much of a fisherman.  My brother and some of my nephews are, but I was usually the one who put on the bait and took the fish off the hook.  So, we joined about eighteen other people on a boat and spent three hours out fishing.  Some people came with elaborate and expensive gear, while we just had simple fishing polls.  During the three hours, out in the sun, no one caught anything!  If when we arrived on shore someone had said, “Let’s try again”, I would have run to the car and locked myself in until Sister Irene promised to take me home.

I always think of this experience when I hear the gospel of today (Luke 5:1-11).  When Jesus asked the men to try again, after a night of not catching anything, they did as He asked and had an abundant catch.

We see the response of Peter to this miraculous catch of fish.  He feels his inadequacy before such a powerful sign of God’s power – revealed in Jesus – and says “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man”.  In this moment Peter feels weak and vulnerable, but yet Jesus calls him to be His disciple, telling him that he will “be catching people”.  Remember, Peter had already seen Jesus ‘in action’.  He had cured his mother-in-law in Capernaum.  So, this was not (according to Luke) his first encounter with Jesus.  He had already seen His power revealed, and had probably heard Him speak with authority.  This was only the beginning of what he would see, hear and experience!  

Peter’s response is natural, human, and normal.  He felt unworthy.  This is a cross that many people bear at different times of their lives, feeling “I can’t do it”, “I’m not up to it”, “I’m not good enough”.  Yet, when we, like Peter, trust in Jesus and say “Yes” to God we have discovered – through his grace – that we are worthy, that we are good enough, that we can do it.  This feeling of weakness and vulnerability opens us up to God’s grace and we CAN do his work.  He can reveal His power in and through us – as He did in Peter, James and John.

The First Reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (6:1-2a, 3-8) also presents us with a person who feels unworthy – the prophet Isaiah.  Over the last few weeks, in the First Readings, we have heard the struggle of the prophets, like Jeremiah last week, to accept their mission given to them by God.  When God called Isaiah, he said “Lord, I am a man of unclean lips”.  He felt unworthy of being a prophet – speaking for God to his people.  Then, dramatically, God touched him and he was relieved of his insecurity.  God’s grace would lead and guide him.  So, when God asked Isaiah, “Whom shall I send?”  Isaiah could answer, “Here I am Lord, send me!”

In the Second Reading from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians (16:1-11) we hear him recognizing how God has worked in him.  Paul went from being Saul, a persecutor of the followers of Jesus to become Paul, one of the most passionate preachers of the Good News.  He was truly “effective” in his mission as an apostle.  He called himself an ‘apostle’, and although he had never seen Jesus in the flesh, or walked with him, from his encounter with the Risen Lord on the road to Damascus, he felt worthy to be called an apostle, and he convinced Peter and the other disciples to accept him as an equal.  WOW!  He had given his “yes” to Jesus, as had Peter.

Today the same Lord Jesus comes to us and asks us to follow Him, and do great things in His name.

In our homes, he is asking us to turn to Him and depend on His grace – like Peter, and Isaiah and Paul.  We have a mission in the lives of one another, and our home is our ‘school of life’.  It is there we learn how to love and forgive, how to be responsible and make good decisions.  We can be “fishers” in our home when we not only give wise advice, but when we give good example to others of how to live in union with God and in harmony with one another.

At work and at school, Jesus is also asking us to depend on His grace – like Peter, and Isaiah and Paul.  These are important places where we find ourselves – to grow and develop, to discover and share our time, gifts and talents.  There too we are to be “fishers”, bringing people – by our word and example – into a deeper life in Christ and allowing the discipleship and stewardship of each to be recognized, accepted and supported. 

Our readings this weekend call us into a greater commitment with Jesus and with His Church.  As “fishers” we cannot be observers or on-lookers, but must be active participants in the life of Christ and the Church.  Let us take heart, as did Isaiah, Paul and Peter and give our ‘yes’ to God.  Let us echo the words of Isaiah, “Here I am, Lord, send me!”