Today’s Reflection
Gospel: Luke 5: 1-11
September 04, 2025 | Thursday

Today’s Gospel

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

Simon’s response to Jesus shows a clear sign of desperation and tiredness: “Master, we have worked all night and caught nothing.” But instead of arguing with Jesus, who was a carpenter, not a fisherman, Peter simply responded obediently: “But if you say so, I will lower the nets.”

The call of the world is for us to become masters of our trade so that we become the best. But in moments when life throws so much difficulty at us, and we no longer are able to cope up, to the point that we are drained of our energies, we fall into desperation and simply give up. But instead of looking for the Lord and asking for his direction, we insist that we know better. Peter is a clear example of following the Lord even amidst frustrations in life. We ought to imitate him in his docility towards Jesus. And when the Lord becomes the Master of our life, we can only fall on our knees with fear and trembling upon the Lord. Instead of remaining on our own paths, for our own sakes, may we realize that the true Master of life is Jesus, and the real mastery we can do is become His disciples, leaving everything behind and following him.

/Vulnerasti, 2025