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To Sunday: God of the Call

Tintoretto

"Put out into deep water . . ."

Steer the ship of my life, good Lord, to your quiet harbour, where I can be safe from the storms of sin and conflict. Show me the course I should take. Renew in me the gift of discernment, so that I can always see the right direction in which I should go. And give me the strength and the courage to choose the right course, even when the sea is rough and the waves are high, knowing that through enduring hardship and danger we shall find comfort and peace.

St. Basil of Caesarea

Is 6: 1-2a, 3-8

1 Cor 15: 1-11

Lk 5: 1-11

Fishing was a popular vacation pass time I remember well from growing up in the Midwest. We took many family vacations to northern Wisconsin and settled in a resort cabins along one of the many inland lakes found nestled in the wooded low rolling hills of the central states. Between boating, water skiing, and fishing the summer vacation days were filled.

The fish were plentiful and delicious. Everything from bluegill, sunfish, northern pike, largemouth bass and walleye, these fresh water fish are common in those lakes. However, the fishing method was vastly different than the fishermen we hear of in the Gospel this Sunday (Lk 5: 1-11). We used rod and reel with lures or live bait. They used nets; large, roped nets that would be thrown out over the water with the hope that when hauled in, many fish would be caught. But something was about to change in their routine lives.

“Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” (Lk 5: 4) said Jesus to Simon as he sat in his boat and taught the crowds on the shore of Lake Galilee. It was not a particularly profound statement for many along that shore may have said the same as good fishing advice. Maybe they knew of a place where the fish were more likely to be found.

But from Jesus it had a deeper meaning; almost an invitation. And so Simon had two choices – to do what Jesus had requested or to dismiss his advice as coming from a naïve preacher who knew little about the finer points of the fishing trade.

One could hear a certain respect in the voice of Simon as he answered Jesus: “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets . . .” (Lk 5: 5). Command? Was it the tone of Jesus’ voice or a deeper awareness in Simon that heard in Jesus’ advice a word to obey?

Despite his own experience of failed fishing all night long, Simon does what Jesus suggests and orders the nets to be thrown over the water along the boat and to sink into the dark waves. “I’ll show him he’s wrong just to prove my point. What does this preacher know about fishing anyway?” Simon may have thought. But then a new life began for Simon and his fishing buddies.

So many fish were caught in the nets where Jesus had ordered that the boats were near sinking. The reaction of Simon? “. . . he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, “‘Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.’” (Lk 5: 8). Simon recognizes in Jesus that he wasn’t dealing with just any preacher, however well meaning. This was someone whose command brought results and Simon recognized his own unworthiness in the presence of such greatness. This act of faith would serve Simon well despite his occasional failings. Jesus would not forget Simon’s (Peter) insight from the beginning as to who he was. This preacher would be the God without limits who gives in abundance if we only follow his call.

As we approach this Sunday, so close to our holy season of Lent, where may our Lord be inviting us to “put out into deep water” and you find yourself resisting the suggestion – or command?

Fishing is slow going. One never knows whether a catch will be found or we might be “hard at it all night” with nothing to show. Is that time to give up? We turn to prayer but do we truly believe that nothing is impossible with God or do we bargain over or limit the possibilities? “Master, we’ve been hard at it all night long . . .”

In the first reading from Isaiah 6 the prophet is eager to answer the invitation of the Lord: “Here I am, send me!” No hesitation in throwing out his net. No bargain or limit to what Isaiah responds. He’s ready to go.

Whenever we hear the invitation of the Spirit, the great saints tell us to stop what we are doing and put out into deep water. Have you ever had the urge to pray and just said, “I’m too busy right now.” Has someone invited you to read a particular spiritual book or look up a certain scripture passage to pray over and you never did so? Has the call to service to assist at a food bank, or help to tutor children in school, or to make amends with someone who has hurt you found an eager response on your part?

It is a God without limits who calls us to trust but waits patiently for our response. Why do we wait?

More to come . . .

A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for Sunday, February 10, 2013 | Carl E. Olson

Readings:

Is 6:1-2a, 3-8
Ps 138:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 7-8
1 Cor 15:1-11 or 15:3-8
Lk 5:1-11

God initiates. Man responds. Jesus calls. Man answers.

Such is the dynamic relationship at the heart of salvation history and at the center of human existence. “Through an utterly free decision,” the Catechism explains, “God has revealed himself and given himself to man. This he does by revealing the mystery, his plan of loving goodness, formed from all eternity in Christ, for the benefit of all men.” Today’s readings offer a challenging view of God’s revelation of Himself, His call to specific men, and His desire for all Christians to be “fishers of men.”

Let’s take a brief look at three men caught up in the divine drama: the prophet Isaiah, the apostle Paul, and Peter, the head of the Apostles and the first Pope. In many respects they were quite different from one another. Isaiah was likely from an upper-class family, was apparently well educated, and was married to a prophetess (Isa 8:3). Paul was also highly educated, the prize student of the great rabbi Gamaliel (Acts 22:3), and, prior to his conversion on the Damascus Road, a fervent enemy of the budding Church. Peter was certainly fervent as well, but was a fisherman and a blue-collar businessman. Yet, however different they were from one another, each man was called, in dramatic and personal fashion, to proclaim the Word of God in difficult, harrowing circumstances.

Some seven centuries prior to Jesus and the apostles, the prophet Isaiah had a dazzling vision of the throne room of the Lord of hosts. Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, initiated contact with the prophet and called him to the task of proclaiming the glory of God and exhorting Israel and Judah to repent of their sins. Isaiah recognized and confessed his own sinful state: “Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips…”

As the Catechism says so well, “Faced with God’s fascinating and mysterious presence, man discovers his own insignificance” (CCC 208). When man sees himself in the light of God’s holiness and recognizes his desperate plight, he can then admit his sinful state and be given the grace needed for the work of God. “See,” Isaiah was told by the seraphim, “now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.”

Paul was also transformed and purified by a heavenly vision. Having held the cloaks of those who stoned Stephen, the first martyr, the young Saul was intent on persecuting the Church in Jerusalem and the surrounding areas (Acts 7:58; 8:1-3). Then, while traveling to Damascus in search of more Christians to arrest, “a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him” (Acts 9:3). As he wrote to the church in Corinth, in today’s Epistle, “Last of all, as to one born abnormally, he appeared to me. For I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” Whereas Isaiah’s sinful lips were purified by fire, Paul’s blinded eyes were healed by the prayer and hands of Ananias, a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Paul eventually spent time with Peter (cf. Gal 1:18), whose life contained more than a few instances of dramatic response to God’s call. Luke’s account of the miraculous catch of fish sets the stage for one such moment; it begins with the note that the crowds following Jesus were eagerly “listening to the word of God.” Some of the early Church Fathers, such as Ambrose and Augustine, saw this event as both historical and metaphorical: the boat of Peter represents the Church in history, going forth to catch men through the guidance of Christ, the head of the Church. Peter, who would eventually be the Vicar of Christ (Matt 16:16-18), accepted by faith the command of Jesus. Upon witnessing the miracle he responded with the same humility as Isaiah and Paul: “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” Yet Jesus does not ask only Peter and the apostles to be fishers of men; He asks it of every son and daughter of God.

God is calling. How will we answer? Jesus tells us to cast our nets. Will we?

(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the February 4, 2007, edition of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)