FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
6 FEBRUARY 2022
Simon is
doing what he does every day, washing his nets after fishing all night. He allows Jesus to use his boat as a pulpit,
because he had witnessed Jesus healing his mother-in-law. Suddenly, Jesus tells Peter to return to deep
water and lower his nets for a catch. Peter
is frustrated by this request of someone who knows nothing about fishing. But, because he had heard the words of this
itinerant preacher whom he calls “Master,” he obeys his command. When he and his partners recognize the miracle
of the huge catch of fish, he addresses Jesus as Lord and falls to his
knees. Like the Prophet Isaiah who had
also encountered the Divine, Simon recognizes his unworthiness before the
presence of the Son of God. Jesus tells
him not to be afraid, in spite of his unworthiness.
In 1840, a
forty-two year old woman set sail from France to cross the Ocean to
America. She had been a comfortable
single woman who did not speak English.
She had every reason to stay in France, to live her life in a familiar
environment. Once she reached this
country, she set down a new life in the wilderness of southern Indiana. She faced nearly impossible challenges, but
did not fear and never looked back. Her
name is Mother Theodore Guerin, a Catholic nun recently canonized by Pope
Francis. Her image is on our triumphal
arch, because she is a fellow Hoosier.
By the time of her death, she established several Catholic schools, some
of them in Fort Wayne. She founded an
order of nuns and organized the oldest Catholic Liberal Arts College for women
in America, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods in Terre Haute. She recognized the call of God in the
ordinary circumstances of her daily life and ventured into the deep and
uncharted waters.
Mother Guerin
followed the example of those we encounter in today’s readings. Isaiah was praying in the Temple, trying to
stay focused. He responded to the Lord’s
call to become the most beloved Prophet of the Old Testament. Saul was making his way to Damascus to take
care of business. On his way, he
encountered the risen Lord. He became
Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles. Simon
puts out into deep water and becomes Simon Peter, the first of the Apostles.
The Lord
continues to call each of us in our comfortable daily existence to put into the
deep water. Perhaps you are in an
ongoing feud with a fellow worker or a neighbor. The Lord might be calling you to cast your
net into the deep water of forgiveness and mercy and tolerance. Married couples can get stuck in the ordinary
circumstances of simply tolerating each other.
The Lord might be calling you to cast your nets into a more profound and
intimate experience of the Sacrament of marriage. The Lord might be calling young people to the
deeper water of personal encounter with others instead of being stuck in the
common experience of online contact.
Perhaps the
Lord is calling us to do what Mother Guerin did –commit ourselves deep water of
humble service. The pandemic has taken a
hit on our ability to serve the needs of others as parish stewards. We are trying to rebuild that stewardship. The Lord might be calling you to be part of
the Saint Vincent de Paul Society to care for the poor and vulnerable. He might be calling you to serve the needs of
those who come to bury their dead here, offering consolation and a shared
meal. He might be calling you to serve
as a minister of hospitality to welcome in his name those who come to the
parish wondering if they can experience the Lord’s presence here. Faithful stewards do not cast their nets into
the deep water for their own benefit. We
cast our nets for the benefit of others.
We will be successful if our service is rooted in Christ.
Through the intercession of Mother
Guerin, we can take steps into the unknown to make a difference and evangelize
in our own ways and our own time. If a
fellow Hoosier who lived on the border of Kentucky can do it, so can we who
live on the border of Michigan!
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