Thursday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s Reflection
Gospel: Lk 5: 1-11
September 7, 2023 | Thursday
One day, as Jesus stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, with a crowd gathered around him listening to the word of God, he caught sight of two boats, left at the water’s edge by fishermen, now washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to pull out a little from the shore. There he sat, and continued to teach the crowd.
When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” Simon replied, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing. But if you say so, I will lower the nets.” This they did, and caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. They signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came, and they filled both boats almost to the point of sinking.
Upon seeing this, Simon Peter fell at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Leave me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For he and his companions were amazed at the catch they had made, and so were Simon’s partners, James and John, Zebedee’s sons.
Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. You will catch people from now on.” So they brought their boats to land and followed him, leaving everything.
Today’s Reflection:
Although we have the universal mission of proclaiming the Good News, we are called to play specific roles in such a great mission. In today’s Gospel, we read the story of how our Blessed Lord called Simon Peter, James, and John. On a very ordinary day in their lives as fisher folks, an extraordinary event happened. Christ got across them purposefully. From then on, their lives changed. They are not only fishermen. Now
their task was elevated from being ordinary fishermen to being fishers of men. Their jobs transformed into a vocation, a life-long call to which they freely responded with joy.
We may perhaps inquire within ourselves. How have we responded to this call of God in my life to be a good Christian? And what could be the specific role God called me to play in this universal mission? /Vulnerasti, 2023
