Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 5, 1-11
While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening
to the word of God,
he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret.
He saw two boats there alongside the lake;
the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets.
Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon,
he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore.
Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
“Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”
Simon said in reply,
“Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,
but at your command I will lower the nets.”
When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish
and their nets were tearing.
They signaled to their partners in the other boat
to come to help them.
They came and filled both boats
so that the boats were in danger of sinking.
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said,
“Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him
and all those with him,
and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
who were partners of Simon.
Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid;
from now on you will be catching men.”
When they brought their boats to the shore,
they left everything and followed him.
Lower your nets
1. The crowd. There might be a lot of people in your life, and yet you may feel lonely. The key is not to lose your identity for the sake of people and not to lose your life to please so many people. Life itself teaches you that continually surrounding yourself with people and cramming yourself with things can generate an internal emptiness and lack of connection with your inner self and with God Himself. Do not let external noises affect your harmony.
2. Out into deep water. Life is that, to assume and face, but above all to stand up for what you want and love. Life consists of getting up every day, being grateful, but above all “enjoying”. The etymology of enjoy is “to give joy, receive with joy, rejoice”. Therefore, live life with joy and take risks, put yourself “out into deep water” to give joy to others.
3. Depart from me. When we look at our nothingness and our mistakes we feel afraid, but we must remember that in life we all make mistakes and we must assume them and accept them. And we must also recognize that God comes looking for us like this, with our weaknesses and our sins. We’re all forgiven sinners. The Church is not a gathering of saintly people who talk about one another because they’re holy. That’s not the Church. You and I, who are forgiven sinners, are the Church; you and I, who come together to ask God to change us to be able to become better people every day.
Don’t forget that something good is on the way!
God bless you and keep you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
