Summary
In contrast to last week’s rejection of the astounding ‘Word’ because of the family of
origin, today we find an acceptance of the same Word, though with much reluctance,
and consequently the astonishing and stupefying results, the miraculous catch!
Simon and his company, who knew the sea much better than a carpenter’s son, toiled the
whole night with absolutely no catch. They couldn’t see the trace of a fish. They had the
fatigue of the whole night; they were tired; they needed sleep and it was at that time this
carpenter comes and jumps into their boat and goes on his long sermon on the sea!
They didn’t like his coming in at this hour of the day; they wanted him to stop his
‘moralizing’. At least when he finished they wanted to go home; and then comes his
prompting for a catch! They didn’t and they couldn’t like it. However, they complied with
his wish. We know the result, they left their trade, their father and family and went after
him, the carpenter, to be fishers of men! May be too big and too ambitious a call for us? The
reality is, any call in the Galilean Carpenter’s way and mission is tall and ambitious and people
with real ambition only take it up and the cost of his discipleship is very high too. Are there
any takers?
This week we are entering into a long, fifty days’ search for an answer. Our initiation is with
ashes and sack clothes! From the ordinary times we move into penitential times and desert
experience! It is not yet time to forget or discard last week’s prophecy from Jeremiah. It has to
be read along with today’s prophecy from Isaiah and we need to find an answer to the
question, “Whom shall I send and who will go for us? An answer for ourselves, in place of
Isaiah’s word! Are we ready to respond?
“Here am I; send me!” The words of St. Paul, again to the Corinthians, will enlighten and
strengthen us. Let us ponder over these words. We have fifty days ahead of us.
Fr. George