Years ago I did some electrical work in a small church in Gate City, Virginia. While we were there I met a man named Pete. Pete was something of an oddity in the construction world. While most of us would have said we were Christian men, many of us people who went to Church regularly, on the construction site our words were much more worldly and crude. Pete wasn’t like that. He encouraged us to pray at lunch, listen to Christian radio, and the entire time I knew him, I never heard a crude word come out of his lips.
One day I saw Pete smash his thumb with a hammer. I don’t mean bruise it. I mean smash his thumb completely flat, exposing the bone and tissue underneath. Pete grabbed his hand and danced in a circle. His face turning beet red! I thought this is it! This is the moment we are going to hear Pete say something if any moment ever existed. Pete yelled at the top of his lungs and said: “Praise Jesus, can someone take me to the hospital.” Compare to the world, Pete was radical.
How do we become a radical too? Constant conversion. In the Gospel today we see another Peter, a man who was a man of the world. Jesus “asked him to put out a short distance from the shore.” Jesus didn’t pull him out into the deep yet. Let’s tread water for a few. Take steps towards restoring who you were meant to be. You are worth the time. This doesn’t mean giving up. It means realizing your faults, learning about how you should act and to be actively trying to change. How do I do that?
The next thing we see in the Gospel is Jesus “sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.” The next step is to go to the Church, to the faith to learn. Listen to the living voice of Jesus as He continues to teach and guide us through the Holy Spirit to become more like Him. That’s what the Mass is all about. It’s taking the Scriptures and opening them to each of us, on a daily basis if we make time for it, to understand exactly what discipleship is. It’s radical! It doesn’t just affect our time at Church, or at home, but every aspect of who we are and how we act.
Then Jesus says the part that scares most of us. “Put out into deep water.” It shouldn’t frighten us, truly. After all, Jesus is still in the boat with Peter. Peters response is telling of a man who trusts. “I’ve fished all night, but if you say so I’ll do it.” The results of listening to Jesus, of journeying with Him into the world, are always more than we can imagine. Peter probably thought at best they’d catch a few fish. They almost sank two boats! In fear, Peter, realizing Jesus isn’t just a normal man, says “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” That should be our response too. An encounter with Jesus should be one where we realize Who it is we are seeing. How then do we approach this?
The Sacraments. We should drop to our knees in Confession often, saying Lord I am a sinful man. Help me to become more like you. Confession is Jesus saying to us time and again, “Do not be afraid.” He forgives us when we truly repent. Then we should pull out from shore at the Mass, listening to Jesus speak to us through the words of Scripture in songs, Psalms, readings, and the Homily. We should listen as Jesus teaches us and joins us in the boat, coming to live inside of us through the Eucharist. Then as the Priest, in persona Christi, says “The Mass is ended,” we should remember that this is Jesus calling us to put out into the deep. Our response? “Thanks be to God.” We are not thanking God that this is finally over, but saying I’ve been out there before, but this time You are in the boat with me. “At your command, I will lower the nets.”
A reflection on the readings for September 5th, 2019: Thursday of the 22nd Week of Ordinary Time.