From: Luke 5:1-11
The Miraculous Catch of Fish and the Calling of the First Disciples
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
1. “Just as they do today! Can’t you see? They want to hear God’s message,
even though outwardly they may not show it. Some perhaps have forgotten Christ’s
teachings. Others, through no fault of their own, have never known them and they
think that religion is something odd. But of this we can be sure, that in every man’s
life there comes a time sooner or later when his soul draws the line. He has had
enough of the usual explanations. The lies of the false prophets no longer satisfy.
Even though they may not admit it at the time, such people are longing to quench
their thirst with the teachings of our Lord” (St. J. Escriva, “Friends of God”, 260).
3. The Fathers saw in Simon’s boat a symbol of the pilgrim Church on earth. “This
is the boat which according to St. Matthew was in danger of sinking and accor-
ding to St. Luke was filled with fish. Here we can see the difficult beginnings of
the Church and its later fruitfulness” (St. Ambrose, “Expositio Evangelii sec. Lu-
cam, in loc.”). Christ gets into the boat in order to teach the crowds—and from the
barque of Peter, the Church, He continues to teach the whole world.
Each of us can also see himself as this boat Christ uses for preaching. Externally
no change is evident: “What has changed? There is a change inside our soul, now
that Christ has come aboard, as He went aboard Peter’s boat. Its horizon has been
expanded. It feels a greater ambition to serve and an irrepressible desire to tell all
creation about the “magnalia Dei” (Acts 2:11), the marvellous doings of our Lord,
if only we let Him work” ([St] J. Escriva, “Friends of God”, 265).
4. “When He had finished His catechizing, He told Simon: ‘Put out into the deep,
and lower your nets for a catch.’ Christ is the master of this boat. He it is who pre-
pares the fishing. It is for this that He has come into the world, to do all He can so
that His brothers may find the way to glory and to the love of the Father” (”Friends
of God”, 260). To carry this task out, our Lord charges all of them to cast their nets,
but it is only Peter He tells to put out into the deep.
This whole passage refers in some way to the life of the Church. In the Church the
bishop of Rome, Peter’s successor, “is the vicar of Jesus Christ because he repre-
sents Him on earth and acts for Him in the government of the Church” (”St. Pius X
Catechism”, 195). Christ is also addressing each one of us, urging us to be daring
in apostolate: ‘”Duc in altum. Put out into deep water!’ Throw aside the pessimism
that makes a coward of you. ‘Et laxate retia vestra in capturam. And pay out you
nets for a catch.’ Don’t you see that you, like Peter, can say: ‘In nomine tuo, laxa-
bo rete’: Jesus, if You say so, I will search for souls?” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way”,
792).
“If you were to fall into the temptation of wondering, ‘Who’s telling me to embark
on this?’, we would have reply, ‘Christ Himself is telling you, is begging you.’ ‘The
harvest is plentiful enough, but the laborers are few. You must ask the Lord to
whom the harvest belongs to send laborers out for the harvesting’ (Matthew 9:
37-38). Don’t take the easy way out. Don’t say, ‘I’m no good at this sort of thing;
there are others who can do it; it isn’t my line.’ No, for this sort of thing, there is no
one else: if you could get away with that argument, so could everyone else. Christ’s
plea is addressed to each and every Christian. No one can consider himself exempt,
for whatever reason—age, health or occupation. There are no excuses whatsoever.
Either we carry out a fruitful apostolate, or our faith will prove barren” (”Friends of
God”, 272).
5. When Christ gives him these instructions, Peter states the difficulties involved.
“A reasonable enough reply. The night hours were the normal time for fishing, and
this time the catch had yielded nothing. What was the point of fishing by day? But
Peter has faith: ‘But at Your word I will let down the nets.’ He decides to act on
Christ’s suggestion. He undertakes the work relying entirely on the word of our
Lord” (”Friends of God”, 261).
8. Peter does not want Christ to leave him; aware of his sins, he declares his un-
worthiness to be near Christ. This reminds us of the attitude of the centurion who
confesses his unworthiness to receive Jesus into his house (Matthew 8:8). The
Church requires her children to repeat these exact words of the centurion before
receiving the Blessed Eucharist. She also teaches us to show due external reve-
rence to the Blessed Sacrament when going to Communion: by falling down on
his knees Peter also shows that internal adoration of God should be also be ex-
pressed externally.
11. Perfection is not simply a matter of leaving all things but of doing so in order
to follow Christ—which is what the Apostles did: they gave up everything in order
to be available to do what God’s calling involved.
We should develop this attitude of availability, for “Jesus isn’t satisfied ‘going
halves’: He wants the lot” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way”, 155).
If we don’t give ourselves generously we will find it very difficult to follow Jesus:
“Detach yourself from people and things until you are stripped of them. For, says
Pope St. Gregory, the devil has nothing of his own in this world, and naked he
comes to battle. If you go clothed to fight him, you will soon be pulled to the
ground: for he will have something to catch you by” (”The Way”, 149).
*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase
The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.
Please pray for this ministry and support it through PayPal here. For other
options (check, money order, etc.) please contact the Listowner directly.
“Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” — St Jerome
*********************************************************************************************
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)
For: Thursday, September 7, 2017
22nd Week In Ordinary Time
From: Luke 5:1-11
The Miraculous Catch of Fish and the Calling of the First Disciples
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
1. “Just as they do today! Can’t you see? They want to hear God’s message,
even though outwardly they may not show it. Some perhaps have forgotten Christ’s
teachings. Others, through no fault of their own, have never known them and they
think that religion is something odd. But of this we can be sure, that in every man’s
life there comes a time sooner or later when his soul draws the line. He has had
enough of the usual explanations. The lies of the false prophets no longer satisfy.
Even though they may not admit it at the time, such people are longing to quench
their thirst with the teachings of our Lord” (St. J. Escriva, “Friends of God”, 260).
3. The Fathers saw in Simon’s boat a symbol of the pilgrim Church on earth. “This
is the boat which according to St. Matthew was in danger of sinking and accor-
ding to St. Luke was filled with fish. Here we can see the difficult beginnings of
the Church and its later fruitfulness” (St. Ambrose, “Expositio Evangelii sec. Lu-
cam, in loc.”). Christ gets into the boat in order to teach the crowds—and from the
barque of Peter, the Church, He continues to teach the whole world.
Each of us can also see himself as this boat Christ uses for preaching. Externally
no change is evident: “What has changed? There is a change inside our soul, now
that Christ has come aboard, as He went aboard Peter’s boat. Its horizon has been
expanded. It feels a greater ambition to serve and an irrepressible desire to tell all
creation about the “magnalia Dei” (Acts 2:11), the marvellous doings of our Lord,
if only we let Him work” ([St] J. Escriva, “Friends of God”, 265).
4. “When He had finished His catechizing, He told Simon: ‘Put out into the deep,
and lower your nets for a catch.’ Christ is the master of this boat. He it is who pre-
pares the fishing. It is for this that He has come into the world, to do all He can so
that His brothers may find the way to glory and to the love of the Father” (”Friends
of God”, 260). To carry this task out, our Lord charges all of them to cast their nets,
but it is only Peter He tells to put out into the deep.
This whole passage refers in some way to the life of the Church. In the Church the
bishop of Rome, Peter’s successor, “is the vicar of Jesus Christ because he repre-
sents Him on earth and acts for Him in the government of the Church” (”St. Pius X
Catechism”, 195). Christ is also addressing each one of us, urging us to be daring
in apostolate: ‘”Duc in altum. Put out into deep water!’ Throw aside the pessimism
that makes a coward of you. ‘Et laxate retia vestra in capturam. And pay out you
nets for a catch.’ Don’t you see that you, like Peter, can say: ‘In nomine tuo, laxa-
bo rete’: Jesus, if You say so, I will search for souls?” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way”,
792).
“If you were to fall into the temptation of wondering, ‘Who’s telling me to embark
on this?’, we would have reply, ‘Christ Himself is telling you, is begging you.’ ‘The
harvest is plentiful enough, but the laborers are few. You must ask the Lord to
whom the harvest belongs to send laborers out for the harvesting’ (Matthew 9:
37-38). Don’t take the easy way out. Don’t say, ‘I’m no good at this sort of thing;
there are others who can do it; it isn’t my line.’ No, for this sort of thing, there is no
one else: if you could get away with that argument, so could everyone else. Christ’s
plea is addressed to each and every Christian. No one can consider himself exempt,
for whatever reason—age, health or occupation. There are no excuses whatsoever.
Either we carry out a fruitful apostolate, or our faith will prove barren” (”Friends of
God”, 272).
5. When Christ gives him these instructions, Peter states the difficulties involved.
“A reasonable enough reply. The night hours were the normal time for fishing, and
this time the catch had yielded nothing. What was the point of fishing by day? But
Peter has faith: ‘But at Your word I will let down the nets.’ He decides to act on
Christ’s suggestion. He undertakes the work relying entirely on the word of our
Lord” (”Friends of God”, 261).
8. Peter does not want Christ to leave him; aware of his sins, he declares his un-
worthiness to be near Christ. This reminds us of the attitude of the centurion who
confesses his unworthiness to receive Jesus into his house (Matthew 8:8). The
Church requires her children to repeat these exact words of the centurion before
receiving the Blessed Eucharist. She also teaches us to show due external reve-
rence to the Blessed Sacrament when going to Communion: by falling down on
his knees Peter also shows that internal adoration of God should be also be ex-
pressed externally.
11. Perfection is not simply a matter of leaving all things but of doing so in order
to follow Christ—which is what the Apostles did: they gave up everything in order
to be available to do what God’s calling involved.
We should develop this attitude of availability, for “Jesus isn’t satisfied ‘going
halves’: He wants the lot” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way”, 155).
If we don’t give ourselves generously we will find it very difficult to follow Jesus:
“Detach yourself from people and things until you are stripped of them. For, says
Pope St. Gregory, the devil has nothing of his own in this world, and naked he
comes to battle. If you go clothed to fight him, you will soon be pulled to the
ground: for he will have something to catch you by” (”The Way”, 149).
*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
Liturgical Colour: Green.
First reading |
---|
Colossians 1:9-14 © |
God has taken us out of the power of darkness |
---|
Responsorial Psalm |
---|
Psalm 97(98):2-6 © |
Gospel Acclamation | cf.2Thess2:14 |
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Or: | Mt4:19 |
---|
Gospel | Luke 5:1-11 © |
---|
They left everything and followed him |
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