Jesus Calls the First Disciples

Today's Reading: Luke 4:42-5:11

42 And when it was day he departed and went into a lonely place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them; 43 but he said to them, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose." 44 And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

1 While the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret. 2 And he saw two boats by the lake; but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 And when he had ceased speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." 5 And Simon answered, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets." 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a great shoal of fish; and as their nets were breaking, 7 they beckoned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." 9 For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the catch of fish which they had taken; 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men." 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

Today's Commentary:

kingdom of God: A leading theme in the Gospels. It is mentioned more than 30 times in Luke.

The kingdom of Christ is closely connected with the ancient kingdom of David. For centuries David's empire lay in ruins, existing only in the minds of the prophets who foretold its glorious restoration by the Messiah (Is 9:6-7; Amos 9:11; Mk 11:10; Acts 1:6). Jesus now comes as the messianic heir to resurrect this fallen kingdom in a spiritual way, ruling from his throne at the Father's right hand (Mk 16:19; Acts 2:33-36). His everlasting reign in the heavenly Jerusalem thus fulfills God's covenant oath to establish David's throne for all time (1:32- 33; Ps 89:3-4). Like David, Christ appoints a cabinet of royal ministers (apostles) to manage the daily affairs of the kingdom (22:28-30; 2 Sam 8:15-18; 1 Kings 4:1-6). Even the international scope of Christ's kingdom was prefigured in the Davidic empire, which not only ruled over the tribes of Israel but extended its dominion over other nations as well.

According to Vatican II, the kingdom of God is mysteriously present in the Church, where Christ reigns as king and shepherds his people through the Magisterium (Lumen Gentium, 3). The kingdom will reach its full perfection in heaven.

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Grace (Like in Sap)

June 6, 2015 by Joseph Hollcraft

I still remember the opening tune to the popular Saturday morning show Land of the Lost. My favorite subject matter in grade school was the dinosaur age. I would often pass the time as a kid playing with my

little dinosaur figurines. We had a pond in our backyard with tadpoles, and I used to have the inanimate dinosaurs battle the live tadpoles in a game of surrender (the dinosaurs usually won). Imagine my excitement when, as a junior in high school, I saw the trailer for a movie that would bring the extinct creatures that preoccupied my childhood back to life.

After my initial excitement of seeing dinosaurs on the big screen waned, I had a lingering question in my mind: how would they bring the dinosaurs to life? The movie wasted no time in answering that question. Mosquitoes bit

dinosaurs, then flew and landed on sap trees. The tree sap encased the mosquitoes and the dinosaur blood within them. Archaeologists found the fossilized mosquitoes, extracted the dinosaur DNA, mixed it with frog DNA to fill in the genetic gaps, and bingo–“Dino DNA” (Jurassic Park).

After watching the movie a handful of times, I found myself almost as fascinated with sap as I was with dinosaurs. I even recall going to a library and reading up on sap before research was so immediate on the Internet.

Later in college, the image of sap again grabbed my attention. One of my Dominican professors correlated sap with grace. He said, “The gifts we receive at baptism are like sap.” He continued, “Grace itself contains within it this idea of a sticky like substance.” In other words, grace, unmerited, sticks to our soul. This Dominican professor offered up for me a palpable image to better understand grace.

I left the classroom that day mindful of another truth as it relates to sap and grace.

Sap contains within it, nutrients, water, and even hormones. Sap, then, carries within it, life-giving properties and the identity of its source–the tree. Even more so, grace carries within its substance life-giving properties and the identity of its source–God’s love. It is to say, the grace that envelops us in the life of the Church is the very life-giving substance that is the love of God. In grace, we receive God’s spiritual DNA.

This life-giving substance protrudes from God and the life of the Church in two forms:

* Sanctifying Grace: This grace, which is a gift from God, truly makes us holy—like God—we truly share in His very life.

* Actual Grace: This grace helps us to become like God in specific circumstances in our life. As all grace, it is the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond fully to His call (For a further distinction between these wonderful gifts of God to us, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC], paragraphs 1996-2001).

We are to draw from the nutrients of grace in a life of constant prayer that we might bear its fruit—joy! The word for joy, chara, is derived from the same Greek root that belongs to grace, charis. Joy is the fragrance of God’s very substance of grace. To tease out further, the word enthusiasm comes from the Greek en-theos, “that bears a god within”. Enthusiastic joy is not some self-created happiness, but the sweet fragrance of God bursting forth.

We are to submerge ourselves in God’s grace (like in sap), allowing it to nourish us and give us life, bring us joy, and effect all that we touch in our journey of faith.