5th Sunday of Ordinary Time, year ’C’
“Jesus got into one of the boats-it was Simon’s-and asked him to put out a little from the shore.Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking he said to Simon, ’Put out into deep water and pay out your nets for a catch.’ Simon replied ’Master, we worked hard all night long and caught nothing, but if you say so, I will put out the nets.’”
The Word of Jesus will strike Peter, he will be ready to fish again. Jesus is in the boat speaking to the crowd on the bank. Peter is there next to him to ensure the boat keeps an even keel. He hears Jesus’ sermons and captures his voice. Jesus talks to the crowd and Peter is physically close to him, in his intimacy. He perceives how much effort it takes for Jesus’ body to talk to the crowd in this way.
The Word is Incarnated through Jesus- it is the Word made flesh. There with Peter in his workplace. Jesus is there in his daily life and comes to awaken his desire. Jesus awakens the desire of each one of us. Jesus knows this, he says to him ’Go out into deep waters’. In this Jesus is saying to go beyond all your securities, habits, certainties and to ’throw out your nets’. ’We worked hard all night long and caught nothing."says Peter! Yet he says to Jesus :’ But if you say so, I’ll put out the nets.’
Each of us can say to Jesus too, ’But if you say so, I really do want to go forward.’ But we are not always with him. If we are, then in this case we are witnesses to God’s grace.
Peter and his companions netted such a huge amount of fish that their nets began to tear.
“And when they had done this they netted such a huge number of fish that their nets began to tear.”
Peter had confidence in Jesus’ Word. The Word was nourished by their relationship, calling him to create something new and to honour his own human capacities. If I am in movement in and through the relationship with Jesus, consciously responding to him , then this is going to have an impact
upon other people.There will be renewed relationships and a greater intimacy. We, too, can put our talents at the service of a project. The Word of Jesus is given to us, wanting our life be of a great fecundity, lived out with Him. What is difficult is that we don’t believe enough in ourselves, in God nor in the mission He has given to us.For so long we have waited asking for deliverance for months on end. Time has flown and we act as if! The life we have received is so precious, of such great value. We need to hold out in hope, and this is in fact a very fragile thing.
In the first reading, Isaiah announces with great strength:
“Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding in its hand a live coal which it had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. With this it touched my mouth and said :’Look, this has touched your lips, your guilt has been removed and your sins forgiven.’”
It is the Body of the Risen Lord Jesus who comes onto our lips in the Eucharist. This is more than all the coal in the whole of the universe.
“For he and all his companions were completely awestruck at the catch they had made.”
The Word had been efficient, what was to be produced had been produced, from a given Word and from a speech that had been heard! Peter feels drawn to Jesus and at the same time he is terrified. Jesus touches him in the deepest part of his being, setting him free, making him poor, he has a desire within himself…
Throwing himself at Jesus’ feet, he says ’Leave me Lord ; I am a sinful man.’ But in his most intimate self he is touched by another Word, a deeper call, something that takes up his whole being. He begins to follow Jesus, continuing the adventure begun when He had said : ’Throw out your nets for a catch.’
Jesus touches us with his Risen Body in order to make of us witnesses of His Good News. This Good News is that we love one another, it is our fecundity. This love is possible because we are united to the Son of God. The apostle Paul said : ’What I am, I am so thanks to the grace of God. And the grace with which He healed me is not something sterile.’
We want to give our consent, for our yes is crucial : Jesus has opened up for us a path of humanity for the Glory of the Father. It is by God’s grace that we are at the service of the Lord who makes of me a messenger of the Good News.