February 10^th 2019.  Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL   Lk 5:1-11

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

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GOSPEL   Lk 5:1-11

While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God,
he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret.
He saw two boats there alongside the lake;
the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets.
Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon,
he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore.
Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
"Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch."
Simon said in reply,
"Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,
but at your command I will lower the nets."
When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish
and their nets were tearing.
They signalled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them.
They came and filled both boats
so that the boats were in danger of sinking.
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said,
"Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man."
For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him
and all those with him,
and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
who were partners of Simon.
Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid;
from now on you will be catching men."
When they brought their boats to the shore,
they left everything and followed him.

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . Jesus tells Peter to cast his nets. Peter says there is no point because he has fished all night without catching anything, but he obeys anyway and the result is a huge catch of fish. Then Peter falls on his knees before Jesus and says, “Depart from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” This statement is accurate insofar as Peter is right about his own misery. But he is wrong to conclude that such misery entails that the Lord cannot do anything with him. How often we are inclined to think that our poverty rules us out of God’s kingdom. The opposite is the case! It is only when we realise our faults that the Lord is able to work effectively within us. Instead of our desolation being a minefield for the Lord, it is actually the fertile ground for him to do marvellous deeds. How many Christians do not hand the reins of their lives over to God because they are convinced that they can manage by themselves! For Simon Peter, Paul of Tarsus and countless others, the path to new life begins with the realisation of the inconsistencies of our old way of life. The Miserere (psalm 51) expresses this point well: “My sacrifice a contrite spirit, a humbled contrite heart you will not spurn”. New life is only possible for whoever allows the Holy Spirit to take the wheel because he is finally convinced that he cannot manage by himself. New life begins for me when I acknowledge that Jesus Christ, and not myself, is the Lord of my life.

Peter thinks that his sinfulness entails that the Lord cannot do anything with him

On this fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time, we read how Jesus chose to board the boat of Simon Peter in order to speak to the crowd. Peter sits there all day and listens to Jesus. When the discourse has been completed, Jesus asks Simon Peter to take him fishing. This seems like a waste of time to Peter because he has worked all night and caught nothing. Then they cast their nets and bring in an enormous quantity of fish. At this point, Peter reacts in his characteristic way, and it is this reaction that we wish to focus on. The fisherman bows down before Jesus and says, “Lord, depart from me, for I am a sinful man”. Peter is saying that Jesus is of divine origin whilst he himself is poor and defective. The Lord should not have anything to do with him! Let us examine this statement by Peter. Firstly, we can say that his statement is accurate. Peter is certainly a sinner. However, from this he concludes that the Lord should stay away from him. Jesus, by contrast, is saying the exact opposite. He is saying that the two of them will always be together, regardless of the defective nature of Peter. Jesus, in fact, gives two surprising instructions to Peter. The first is to cast the nets at a time when it seemed clear to everyone that the nets were useless. The second is the declaration that Peter will become a fisher of men when Peter thought that he himself was useless. In both cases, the fisherman was mistaken. The nets were effective even though they seemed a waste of time. And Peter himself seemed hopeless but turned out to be something marvellous. The Lord looks at sin differently to us. We look at a sinful person and we naturally tend to think that their weakness and frailty makes them a liability. They are a danger and cannot be of use to the Lord, or so we think. Many people think that their sins entail that the Lord would not want anything to do with them.

It must be underlined: our misery is not something that separates us definitively from God! Rather, awareness of our misery is the fertile ground in which the Lord can transform our lives!

This is a point that must be underlined. How often in spiritual matters it is necessary to battle against the discouragement and sadness that can be so prevalent in in human hearts. People come face to face with their own limits and misery, and they think that this separates them from God in a definitive way. Instead, we find in Scripture that a state of humiliation and the sense of one’s own failings is the best point of departure for the work of the Lord to become effective in us. It is the best preparation for abandoning ourselves into the hands of God. The Miserere psalm (psalm 51) is very important in this regard: “My sacrifice a contrite spirit, a humbled contrite heart you will not spurn”. We must keep in mind the dynamics of salvation. It is essential to stop making our perception of ourselves into something absolute. We tend to think that our limits are a minefield for God. Instead, these limits are the fertile ground for the work of God in us. These limits stop us from considering ourselves to be centres of truth and goodness; they show us that this is simply not the case. At this point we can begin to place our hand in the Lord’s and allow him to lead the way.

The way to new life is the recognition of the misery of our old life

Simon Peter, Paul of Tarsus and countless others discovered that the only way to new life was the unmasking of the inconsistencies of the old life. Jesus does not need to distance himself from Peter because he is a sinner. Rather he can be with Peter because the fisherman knows that he is a sinner, because finally he has admitted that he is not a just man. Peter will not remember this fact always, of course. At the time of the Passion he will have to remember it again with bitterness. And it will be very important for him to begin again from the awareness of his failure. How good it is to meet people who have gone beyond the point of having illusions about themselves! How many Christians do not hand the reins of their lives over to God because they are convinced that they can manage by themselves! The consequence of this is the prevalence of mediocrity that surrounds us.

The good news is essentially mercy, and we cannot seek mercy unless we are aware of our misery

The good news of the love of God which is announced by Christians is essentially mercy. And the door of access to mercy is our own misery. The forgiveness of God is not merely the cancellation of debts by a competent office in paradise: it is the point of departure for the Christian life. “I believe in one baptism for the forgiveness of sins”. This new life is only possible for whoever allows the Holy Spirit to take the wheel because he is finally convinced that he cannot manage by himself. Jesus Christ is the Lord of my life, not me.