Thursday, September 05, 2013 22nd Week in Ordinary Time
First Reading: Col 1: 9-14 Gospel Reading: Lk 5:1-11
One day, as Jesus stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, with a crowd gathered around him listening to the word of God, he caught sight of two boats left at the water’s edge by the fishermen now washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to pull out a little from the shore. There he sat and continued to teach the crowd.
When he had finished speaking he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” Simon replied, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing. But if you say so, I will lower the nets.” This they did and caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. They signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came and filled both boats almost to the point of sinking.
Upon seeing this, Simon Peter fell at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Leave me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For he and his companions were amazed at the catch they had made and so were Simon’s partners, James and John, Zebedee’s sons.
Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. You will catch people from now on.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE (Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life
Experience)
“Life”, wrote James Barrie in ‘The Little Minister’ “is a long lesson in humility”. What lesson? Today’s Gospel tells us what. As fishermen all their lives the disciples knew how to catch fish better than any neophyte. Yet they took instructions from Jesus who was not even a fisherman. Was it because he was the Messiah? No, they weren’t so sure about his identity. Peter even denied him during the Passion. Was it because they had nothing to lose anyway? Probably. But under the given circumstances, a tired and desperate fisherman won’t have the humility to give the suggestion of a carpenter a chance. Then what? Faith. Only faith makes a person humble at any given occasion.
Now we can expand Barrie’s maxim to “Life is a long lesson on faith in humility”. The disciples learned this lesson well. Since they did not find it hard to lower their pride, lowering their nets upon Jesus’ instruction was a piece of cake. The reward was immediate. Aside from the material reward of abundant catch Jesus also made available to them the spiritual gift of repentance. While the others were enjoying the big catch, Peter pursued this spiritual reward. He exclaimed: “Leave me Lord for I am a sinful man.”
As followers of Jesus there is no better lesson to learn in this life than faith. Unfortunately not all of us have the humility to learn it well. – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM . Email: [email protected]. Website: www.frdan.org
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