Thursday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 434
Reading 1
1 Corinthians 3:18-23
Brothers and sisters:
Let no one deceive himself.
If anyone among you considers himself wise in this age,
let him become a fool, so as to become wise.
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God,
for it is written:
God catches the wise in their own ruses,
and again:
The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.
So let no one boast about human beings, for everything belongs to you,
Paul or Apollos or Cephas,
or the world or life or death,
or the present or the future:
all belong to you, and you to Christ, and Christ to God.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 24:1bc-2, 3-4ab, 5-6
R. (1) To the Lord belongs the earth and all that fills it.
The LORD's are the earth and its fullness;
the world and those who dwell in it.
For he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
R. To the Lord belongs the earth and all that fills it.
Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD?
or who may stand in his holy place?
He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean,
who desires not what is vain.
R. To the Lord belongs the earth and all that fills it.
He shall receive a blessing from the LORD,
a reward from God his savior.
Such is the race that seeks for him,
that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.
R. To the Lord belongs the earth and all that fills it.
Alleluia
Matthew 4:19
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Come after me, says the Lord,
and I will make you fishers of men.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
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.
Reflection 1
Catholic Daily Reflections
A Personal Encounter
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” Luke 5:8
Consider carefully this very moving action of Simon Peter. Jesus had just begun His public ministry, healing Simon’s mother-in-law as one of His first miracles. After that, Simon witnessed Jesus heal many other sick people and cast out many demons. And then, shortly after these initial miracles, Jesus got into the boat of Simon, directed him to “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” As soon as Simon obeyed, he caught so many fish that they needed a second boat to come and help them. The response of Simon to this additional miracle is recorded above.
Three things take place in this passage. First, “Simon Peter saw this…” And though he saw this, literally with his eyes, we should see his “seeing” as something even deeper. Simon Peter saw not just the best day of fishing he had ever had. He saw God’s grace at work through Jesus and was deeply moved interiorly by what he saw. Jesus used that which was one of the most central parts of Simon Peter’s life (fishing) to manifest His divine power. In a sense, Jesus brought this lesson home to Simon, using fishing as the source of His lesson.
Secondly, Simon’s response was perfect. By encountering this divine miracle, Simon immediately was aware of his sin. Though we do not know what Simon’s sin was, it is clear that this encounter with our Lord led him to immediately call to mind whatever he was guilty of. Perhaps he had struggled with some ongoing habitual sin for years, or perhaps he had done something of a grave nature that still haunted him. But all we know is that Simon’s encounter with this very powerful and personal miracle moved him to an awareness of his sin.
Thirdly, Simon falls at the knees of Jesus and tells the Lord to depart from him. And though Jesus’ mercy is so great that Jesus would never depart from him, Simon is not only aware of the fact that he is unworthy to be in Jesus’ presence, but he also manifests this conviction through his humble action of repentance.
What does Jesus do? He said, “Do not be afraid…” And when these new disciples arrived at shore, “they left everything and followed him.”
Each one of us must encounter our Lord in this same way. We must see Jesus. We must be deeply attentive to Him. We must recognize His presence, hear His voice and see His action in our life. If this is done well and through faith, then our personal encounter with our Lord will shine light on the sin we need to repent of. This is not so that we remain in guilt and shame; rather, it is so that we can also humble ourselves before Jesus and acknowledge we are not worthy of Him. When this humble admission is done well, we can be assured that Jesus will also say to us, “Do not be afraid.” His consoling words to us must then be responded to with the same choice made by Simon and the others. We must be ready and willing to leave everything behind so as to follow Him.
Reflect, today, upon this image of Simon Peter on his knees before Jesus. See his humility and honesty. See his sincerity and interior awareness. And see his understanding of the divine power of Jesus before him. Pray that you, too, will see our Lord, experience your sin, humble yourself before Him and hear Him call you to radically and completely follow after Him wherever He leads.
Reflection 2
One Bread, One Body
ALL THINGS IN CHRIST (SEE 1 COR 15:28)
“All things are yours.” —1 Corinthians 3:21
The Lord tells us in the Ten Commandments not to covet our neighbors’ possessions or spouse (Ex 20:17). In Christ Jesus, there is no need to covet or be in want. Because we belong to Jesus, all things are ours (1 Cor 3:21, 22). In giving up our lives to Jesus, we receive in return a hundred times as many houses, lands, and family members (see Mk 10:30). In Jesus, every spiritual gift and good is at our disposal (Eph 1:3). Everything is ordered to our benefit (2 Cor 4:15). This abundance occurs because we belong to Jesus, and all things are Christ’s (Ps 24:1). The Lord is our Shepherd, so we have no need to covet material or spiritual goods (Ps 23:1). We can live in total detachment from this world and the things of this world (1 Jn 2:15), because we are living in total attachment to the King of this world, Jesus Christ.
We cannot love both God and the things of this world (Mt 6:24). When we love the things of this world and covet them, we lose our love for Jesus (see Jas 4:4; Phil 3:18-19). Conversely, by renouncing the things of this world — and Jesus says no one can be His disciple without renouncing all his possessions (Lk 14:33) — then, because we belong to Christ, all possessions become ours.
We don’t give ourselves to Jesus so we can gain all things. It’s the opposite. By renouncing all things and clinging to the Lord alone, we gain all things, temporal and spiritual. In the words of the old spiritual, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”
Prayer: Father, “for [Jesus’] sake I have forfeited everything; I have accounted all else rubbish so that Christ may be my Wealth, and I may be in Him” (Phil 3:8-9).
Promise: “From now on, you will be catching men.” —Lk 5:10
Praise: George had once put his trust in his education and his job, but has since learned to trust only in his Lord.
Reflection 3
Shared from God's Word
In the familiar Gospel passage of today, Jesus performs a great nature miracle of the catch of fish. But his success should be measured not in/by the catch of fish, but rather, by the fact that Peter and others will be called to accompany him in the world-wide mission of ‘catching people.’ Simon Peter and his companions must have been shocked by what had happened at the one word of Jesus! This was possible because Peter believed in the word of Jesus and let down the nets. Do we believe in the word of Jesus enough to let go of our ego, our self-inflated image, our attitude, etc.? If, and only, when we rise above our ego that the word of Jesus will take effect, making a miraculous catch possible.
Prayers
My consoling Lord, You manifested Your almighty power to Simon Peter through his ordinary daily activity. You allowed him to see Your divine power at work. Help me to see You at work in my life also, dear Lord. And as I see You, help me to humble myself before You, acknowledging my unworthiness. As I do, I pray that I also hear You say to me “Do not be afraid,” so that I can get up and follow You wherever You lead. Jesus, I trust in You.
Lord Jesus, fill my heart with love and compassion for those who do not know you or follow you. May I be a good witness of your truth and salvation to my family, friends, and co-workers.
Daily Reflections on Divine Mercy
Reflection 248: Unlimited Resources
Imagine if you found a source of unlimited natural resources by creating a machine that transforms only a small amount of oxygen into an unlimited amount of energy. All you had to do is turn on the machine you created and the energy is generated endlessly. That would be quite an invention. But something like this does exist on a spiritual level. The “oxygen” it runs on is our misery and sin. And the “generator” is the Heart of Jesus. The “energy” it produces is God’s endless Mercy. If we could only understand this then our world would be flooded with this supernatural resource to an infinite degree. We must realize that God transforms our misery in life when we offer it to Him. In fact, this is His burning desire. His Heart longs to transform your misery into His Mercy so that your own life will be filled to abundance and so that, through you, the world will be filled to abundance. Give to God your misery and sin and let Him endlessly transform it (See Diary #1273).
What do you think about your own misery and sin? Do you hide it, cover it up, ignore it and pretend it doesn’t exist? Do you go through life presenting the illusion of a sin-free and misery-free life? Some do this and others go to the opposite extreme, wallowing in self-pity and manifesting their misery for all to see as if their misery were a badge of honor. Neither approach is helpful. The only helpful approach is to surrender your sin and all misery to the Heart of Jesus. You can do this. You simply need to make the choice to do so. Do it today. Begin to make this act of total surrender and you will discover the miraculous power in the Heart of Jesus to transform everything into Mercy.
Oh Heart of Jesus, I run to You with my misery and pain and I surrender my sin to You, dear Lord. Please transform it into Your Mercy, enabling this gift to become a source of endless grace. Jesus, I trust in You.
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