Thursday of the Twenty-Second Week of Ordinary Time

Lectio

    Luke 5:1–11

Meditatio

“… at your command I will lower the nets.”

    It must have been quite a shock for Peter to have his workaday routine upset by this itinerant rabbi. Peter and his partners had been out on the lake all night, disappointed because they weren’t able to catch any fish. In preparation for their next excursion, they are mending their nets. Then along comes Jesus—a traveling rabbi. Once he has finished doing what a rabbi does, he turns to tell the fishermen to go back out for a catch. Rather than telling the rabbi that this is the worst possible time to go fishing, that they need to prepare their nets, and that he and his men are looking forward to going home and relaxing, Peter follows the rabbi’s command.

    What’s really happening here? Jesus is asking Peter to go against the first commandment of human existence: to play it safe. He invites Peter to move beyond the safety of human and physical limitation into the realm of the unknown. The overwhelming success of this adventure and the physical presence of this rabbi overwhelm Peter with the hidden reality of God’s presence. When we allow God in and experience what happens when the divine interacts with the human, we experience an overwhelming sense of closeness. Even though we may be uncomfortable with that nearness and the incredible realization that God is so close to us, the experience leaves us wanting more.

    Each of us is invited to “put out into deep water”—to stop living according to the limitations of our human expectations. When we let go of whatever moors us to the physical plane of reality, and allow ourselves to follow God’s invitation toward the spiritual ideals to which God beckons us, we will be surprised at the overwhelming sense of fulfillment that we discover.

Oratio

    Jesus, I feel the tug in my heart urging me to embrace a higher ideal. Yet I make excuses for staying within the confines of my weakness and shortsightedness. I fear what I don’t know and can’t see. In this Gospel passage, you beckon to me to rely on you when I know I am called to pursue what seems to be beyond human limitation. Help me to trust your presence; help me remember that you see what I cannot see. I am confident that with you guiding me, I will find rest. Amen.

Contemplatio

    I have nothing to fear, for God is with me.

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ORDINARY GRACE Weeks 18–34: Daily Gospel Reflections (By the Daughters of St. Paul)