Gospel : Luke 5 : 1 – 11
Year C
Jesus got into one of the boats ….
The crowd is pressing around You, wanting to hear the Word of God. So You get into a boat. You have often responded to the good-will of those around You, Lord … You want to need us to achieve Your mission goal. It’s not always a huge thing, a little service, but this little thing, this nothing, contributes to Your action: In pulling out a little from the shore, Peter enables people to hear You better …. In giving You his six loaves, a child enables You to feed a whole crowd …. In doing my job, however humble it may be, with love for You, I become an instrument in Your hands to continue Your work of salvation.
Thank You for this trust which You show us, Lord ….. and preserve us from pride. We are sometimes tempted to take Your place instead of remaining humbly in our own. There is not another Saviour besides You!
Peter did You this little service of lending You his boat. He showed himself in this to be a good collaborator in Your mission. So You are going to invite him to enter it more fully with a lesson of sorts.
Put out into the deep and cast your nets.
Peter knows what he’s doing. Fishing is his trade. If he has worked hard all night and caught nothing, he’s not going to succeed in broad day-light. However, despite his certainty of failure, he obeys You: If You say so, I will cast out the nets …. And it’s a catch like never before. He falls on his knees before You! The lesson is understood. Peter will be a good instrument in Your hands for a more important catch.
Grant us, Lord, this availability of Peter’s, this obedience, even if our reason sometimes does not understand anything. May my faith and trust in You make me put out into the deep and cast out the nets!
