Reflection
1 Corinthians 3:18-23
Psalm 24
Luke 5:1-11
What a happy day that must have been in today’s gospel – and a happy day for all involved. There is Jesus teaching the people, so many gathered that he had to get into a boat and head out into the waters to make room for all of the people. Imagine the excitement the people had when listening to Jesus, or maybe there was just utter peace at hearing his words. Peace is something for which we all long, so they likely could not get enough of hearing Jesus.
The whole thing must have taken Simon Peter off guard a bit. There is Jesus climbing into Simon Peter’s boat and asking Simon Peter to be at His service in taking Jesus out into the waters. This is the prelude to Jesus appointing Simon Peter the rock, as the one on whom He will build His Church. Jesus has attached Himself to Simon Peter in a way that He did not with others, this is His first choosing of Simon Peter.
Jesus follows that with instruction to go out into the deeper waters where Simon Peter catches more fish than he knew how to handle, so Simon Peter calls on his friends for help. As Simon Peter called on his friends for help, our Popes, Bishops, and Priests call on us to help them by being fishers of men ourselves.
Absolutely fascinated by Simon Peter’s reaction as he gets down on his knees and Jesus tells him “Do not be afraid…” I would have thought Simon Peter would have been jumping for joy with all of the fish he caught. And yet, Simon Peter gets the first glimpse of the great responsibility Jesus is giving him. We can get overwhelmed when thinking of the great task of evangelizing…but do not be afraid. There are a lot of people waiting for us to invite them back to the Church. Go get ‘em! TODAY!
It is a great day! Go smile at God today!