“Put out into the deep water and then lower your nets for a catch,” Jesus says to the disciples in the boat. Peter says: Jesus, I have been doing this for a long time. I am a professional fisherman. I have my own company. Look at these hands and see how much experience I have had in the fishing industry. You are a carpenter, from a family of carpenters. Have you ever even fished?” “But at your command I will lower the nets.”
Have you found yourself asking that question? Not about fishing, but about your life and work? “Lord, I have been trying to be a good Christian, a Catholic. But I am not getting much out of it. “Master, I have worked hard all night, but have not caught anything.”
Maybe God is calling you to expand your idea of what it means to be part of the household of God? A member of the parish family.
Perhaps there is a new way of serving the community that Jesus calls you to. The Gospel invites us to risk.
But we wonder. Is this possible? This always happens when we experience a call from God. In the face of God’s unparalleled goodness, graciousness, and mercy, our own inadequacies and sinfulness loom over all the larger. Isaiah says: “Woe is me; I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips.” “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man,” implores Peter. “I am not fit to be an apostle,” insists Paul. But no matter how much we protest; it doesn’t faze God. The mission is never dependent on the worthiness of the minister, but rather God’s grace. If people kept their focus on their own inabilities and shortcomings, the work of God would never be accomplished. It is when Isaiah directs his attention away from unworthiness and toward God’s holiness that he experiences the purging of his sins and the freedom to say, “Here I am … send me.” When Peter lets go of his certainty that nothing can be caught and relinquishes his fear at what Jesus is asking him, then he can let himself be seized by grace to bring all his skills to be employed in Jesus’ mission.
The world is starving to hear of God’s love, to see God’s love. The world is swimming around in confusion, waiting to be brought into God’s net. That is what counts. That is vocation we have as Christians. God is willing to work with sinners, like Isaiah, Peter, you, and me. Let’s give thanks for that and get to work.
God bless! Have a wonderful week! Fr. Kevin McKenna