Working with Jesus
1 Corinthians 3:18-23; Psalm 24; Luke 5:1-11
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“We worked hard all night long and caught nothing…”(Luke5:5). Why? Psalm 127:1 “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labour in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.” Therefore, seeking the will of God and acting in accordance to it is an essential protocol for success in any human venture. If God has not approved an undertaking, we shall labour day and night in vain. Psalm 34:10 says; “strong lion suffer want and go hungry; but those who seek the Lord lack no blessings.” Seek the Lord and your struggles shall be meaningful.
Again, we often claim mastery of our fields at the neglect of Christ’s counsel.We rely so much on our own understanding and neglect the possibility of Divine wisdom. Simon was an expert in fishery yet he listened to Jesus’ directives and had a great catch. Let us listen to Jesus and ease our struggles. In the first reading, Paul says; “Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight”. Beloved, we all need guidance, irrespective of our expertise. Through spiritual direction we cultivate our interior life to be able to stand the failures and challenges in this world.
In a bid to rejoice over the miraculous catch of fish; Jesus called Peter and his friends to follow him. The Gospel says “they left everything and followed him.” In spite of our successes and victories, we too should learn the ways of detachment and selflessness.
Jesus figuratively caught Peter in His net before commanding him to “catch men” for the Kingdom of God. The primary mandate of our vocation is to be fishers of men, not fishermen. This mission demands that each of us as in Luke 5:3-4 would “put out a little away from the land” in order to “put out into the deep water for a catch”. That is, we have to step backward a bit, in order to throw out net deeply into the water. So, the Church sets us apart for great impact.
LET US PRAY
Lord Jesus, come and ease the burdens of our labours; we are toiling all night and day yet to no avail; teach us, help us and save us. Amen
