Gospel for Sunday, February 6 Luke 5: 1-11
V Sunday C
1One day, while he stood up near the lake of Genèsaret 2and the crowd was crowding around him to listen to the word of God, he saw two boats moored to the shore. The fishermen had gone down and were washing their nets. 3He got into a boat, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to move away from the land a little. Sitting down, he began to teach the crowds from the boat. 4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon: “Put out into the deep and let down your fishing nets.” 5Simon replied: “Master, we toiled all night and got nothing; but at your word I will let down the nets.” 6And having done so, they caught a huge quantity of fish and the nets broke. 7Then they signaled to their companions on the other boat to come and help them. They came and filled both boats so much that they almost sank. 8Seeing this, Simon Peter fell at Jesus’ knees, saying: “Lord, depart from me, I am a sinner.” 9In fact, he and all those who were with him were astonished at the fishing they had done; 10so were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were Simon’s partners. Jesus said to Simon: “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be a fisher of men.” 11Having pulled the boats ashore, they left everything and followed him.
Luke 5: 1-11
Dear Sisters and Brothers of the Misericordie, I am Carlo Miglietta, doctor, biblical scholar, layman, husband, father and grandfather (www.buonabibbiaatutti.it).
Also today I share with you a short meditation thought on the Gospel, with special reference to the theme of mercy.
FISHERMEN OF MEN
Fishers of men (Lk 5,10)! What a strange commitment you call us to today, Lord! You reveal yourself to us in power and strength, as the “Holy One, Lord of hosts, with whose glory the whole earth is full, … the King” (Is 6,2-4): we feel “lost, from impure lips, living among a people of the impure” (Is 6,5). With just one word of yours you transform our useless toil of a whole night into an overabundant catch (Lk 5.5-6): and we are left with great amazement and a profound sense of unworthiness in the face of your greatness (Lk 5.8 -9). We would expect an invitation to perpetual adoration of Your name, to offer sacrifices of praise, to continuous meditation on Your Law, to prostrate contemplation of Your mystery… Instead, you want us… fishers of men! You, the Almighty, Lord of the cherubim and seraphim, whose “Word never returns without having done your will” (Is 55.11), needs 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 will I send and who will go for us?” (Is 6.8).
Fishers of men! You want us to transmit your Gospel to all other men, our joyful personal experience of your Resurrection and of your victory over anguish, over illness, over sin, over death (1 Cor 15,1-9). Call us, saved from the biblical sea of chaos and evil, to become fishers of men in our turn! You bind your Word to a “transmission” (paradosis: 1 Cor 15,1-3), of which we must be at the same time the witnesses, the intermediaries, the guarantors. And if we don’t do it, all of us, the Good News will not reach others: “How will they be able to believe, without having heard about it? And how will they be able to hear about it without someone announcing it?” (Rom 10:14).
Fishers of men! It is an invitation, Lord, that you not only address to priests and nuns, but to all your disciples. Even all of us lay people, mothers or fathers or grandparents, immersed in the sea of the world, without fear of contaminating ourselves with its iniquity, must be fishers of men, announcing the Word “on every occasion, whether in season or out of season” (2 Tim 4, 2). Each of us, like Paul, must be consumed by the zeal to evangelize, and testify: “It is my duty to preach the Gospel: woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel” (1 Cor 9:18). Because we are “called to make the Church present and active”, your boat of salvation (Mk 3.9; 4.35-41; Jn 6.21), “in those places and in those circumstances in which it cannot become salt of the earth if not through us: “in fact, the glorious burden of working rests on all lay people, so that the divine plan of salvation reaches every day more and more all men of all times and of all the earth” (Lumen gentium , no. 33). “The laity, therefore…, can and must exercise a precious action for the evangelization of the world; … everyone must cooperate in the expansion and increase of the Kingdom of Christ in the world” (n. 35).
Fishers of men! To me today, Lord, you address the heartfelt appeal to go and teach all the nations, baptizing them in your name and teaching them everything you have commanded us (Mt 28,19-20). Today, I am called by you to “be with you, to send me out to preach and to have the power to cast out demons” (Mk 3:14). May I not remain to wallow in my personal salvation. May I understand that following you is mission, that your discipleship is apostolate; that the happiness of many brothers who still lie “in darkness and the shadow of death” (Lk 1.79) depends only on me. And may he respond to your invitation, at every moment, with joy and generosity: “Here I am, send me!” (Is 6.8).
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.