Gospel for Sunday, February 09: V Sunday C: Luke 5:1-11
FISHERS OF MEN
1 One day, as he stood by the lake of Genèsaret 2 and the crowd crowded around him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats moored at the shore. The fishermen had gone down and were washing their nets. 3 He got into a boat, which belonged to Simon, and begged him to move a little way from the shore. Sitting down, he began to teach the crowds from the boat.
4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out to sea and let down your nets for fishing.” 5 Simon answered, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; but at your word I will cast the nets.” 6 And having done so, they caught an enormous amount of fish, and the nets broke. 7 Then they beckoned to their companions in the other boat to come and help them. They came and filled both boats to the point that they almost sank. 8 On seeing this, Simon Peter threw himself down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Lord, depart from me, for I am a sinner.” 9 Great astonishment indeed had seized him and all who were with him because of the fishing they had done; 10 so also had James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be a fisher of men.” 11 Having pulled their boats ashore, they left everything and followed him.Lk 5:1-11
Dear sisters and brothers of Misericordia, I am Carlo Miglietta, a doctor, biblical scholar, layman, husband, father and grandfather (www.buonabibbiaatutti.it). Also today I share with you a short thought meditation on the Gospel, with special reference to the theme of mercy.
Fishers of men (Luke 5:10)! To what a strange commitment you call us today, Lord! You reveal yourself to us in power and strength, as the “Holy One, Lord of hosts, with whose glory all the earth is full, … the King” (First Reading: Is 6:2-4): we feel “lost, of unclean lips, dwellers among a people of the unclean” (Is 6:5). You transform with a single Word of yours our useless all-night toil into a superabundant catch (Gospel: Lk 5:5-6): and we are left with a great amazement and a deep sense of unworthiness before your greatness (Lk 5:8-9). We would expect an invitation to perpetual worship of Your name, to offer sacrifices of praise, to continual meditation on Your law, to prostrate contemplation of Your mystery… Instead, You want us … fishers of men! You, the Almighty, Lord of cherubim and seraphim, whose “Word never returns without having done your will” (Is 55:11), need us to spread your Word. You are the God who wants to need his creatures: you are the God who becomes a beggar and asks, “Who shall I send and who will go for us?” (Is 6:8).
Fishers of men! You want us to be the ones to pass on to all other men your Gospel, our joyful personal experience of your Resurrection and victory over distress, sickness, sin, and death (Second Reading: 1 Cor. 15:1-9). You call us, saved from the biblical sea of chaos and evil, to become fishers of men in turn! You bind your Word to a “transmission” (paradosis: 1 Cor 15:1-3), of which we are to be at once the witnesses, the trammels, the guarantors. And if we, all of us, do not do this, the Glad Tidings will not come to others: “How shall they believe, without having heard of it? And how shall they hear of it, without one who proclaims?”(Rom. 10:14).
Fishers of men! It is an invitation, Lord, that you address not only to priests and nuns, but to all your disciples. All of us lay people, moms or dads, immersed in the sea of the world, unafraid to defile ourselves with its iniquity, must also be fishers of men, proclaiming the Word “on every occasion, opportune and untimely” (2 Tim. 4:2). Each of us, like Paul, must be consumed with the zeal to evangelize, and attest, “It is my duty to preach the gospel: woe to me if I preach not the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:18). For we are “called to make present and industrious the Church,” your boat of salvation (Mk. 3:9; 4:35-41; Jn. 6:21), “in those places and circumstances in which she cannot become salt of the earth except through” ours: “for the glorious burden of working, so that the divine plan of salvation may reach more and more every day to all men of all times and of the whole earth, falls upon all the laity” (Lumen Gentium, no. 33). “The laity, therefore …, can and must exercise a valuable action for the evangelization of the world; … it is necessary for all to cooperate in the expansion and increase of Christ’s Kingdom in the world” (no. 35).
Fishers of men! To me you, today, Lord, address the heartfelt call to go and teach all nations, baptizing them in your name and teaching them all that you have commanded us (Mt 28:19-20). I, today, am called by you to “be with you, to send me forth to preach and to have power to cast out demons” (Mk 3:14). May I not remain to bask in my personal salvation. May I understand that your following is mission, that your discipleship is apostolate; that the happiness of so many brothers and sisters who still lie “in darkness and in the shadow of death” (Lk 1:79) depends on me alone. And that I respond to your invitation, at all times, with joy and generosity, “Here am I, send me!” (Is 6:8).
THE MISSIONARY NATURE “AD GENTES”
Each one of us is a missionary by virtue of our Baptism, and therefore at every age we have been chosen by the Lord to proclaim his Gospel to all those we encounter in the daily routine of our lives. But Jesus, before he ascended into heaven, gave us another specific task: “Go and make my disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:18-20); “You will be my witnesses … to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). It therefore also falls on all of us to bring the Joyful News to all nations. Therefore, The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council reaffirmed, “The pilgrim Church is by its very nature missionary” (Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Ad gentes, no. 2); and invited “each community… to widen the vast web of its charity to the ends of the earth, showing the same solicitude for those who are far off as it does for those who are its own members” (Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Ad gentes, no. 37).
So let’s talk about the inescapable need, at all ages, to be missionaries “ad gentes,” to those five billion people who do not know Jesus, and to have “the same solicitude” for the problems of our communities and those of distant populations. And here…the donkey falls! Writes a missionary elder, Father Natale Basso: “Missionary commitment ‘ad gentes’ is not something more for Christians who sympathize with missions… It is very common to think that taking an interest in missions is an attitude like any other, such as being sensitive to the poor, to the sick, to sacred song, so one chooses to belong to the missionary group, the choir, the liturgical group, the various forms of volunteer work. The idea that the missionary commitment “ad gentes”… must therefore be lived in depth and with constancy by each one struggles to take hold, fails to break through, fails to convince… Instead, missionary animation must coincide with Christian formation, permeating with a missionary spirit all pastoral actions that develop the germs of baptism in the individual and in the community: the liturgy, catechesis, the whole process of Christian initiation… Unfortunately, this is not the case. Missionary animation continues to be a parallel activity to pastoral action and the spiritual formation of Christians. Different responsible parties, different areas, often also different objectives and contents…But a Christian community is not faithful to its vocation if it is not missionary. Either it is a missionary community, or it is not even a Christian community. Missionalism is not the affair of specialists (those who leave) but concerns everyone. Those who are called to leave must go; but how many are those who do not respond and do not go! Those who are called to stay must give their cooperation; but how many are those who pray little for those who have left, or who send material aid with the dropper, while convinced they are doing who knows what… It is urgent to go against the tide. If you have understood missionary work, don’t stand by; if you haven’t understood it and consider it an accessory, get busy, because you are a Christian or a Christian who is limping, missing a hand, or who cannot see well.”
Happy Mercy to all!
Anyone who would like to read a more complete exegesis of the text, or some insights, please ask me at migliettacarlo@gmail.com.