This, then, is the third call to conversion: a call to hope, to trust in God and his great promise of eternal life. Let us ask ourselves: Am I convinced that the Lord forgives my sins? Or do I act as if I can save myself? Do I long for salvation and call upon God’s help to attain it? Do I concretely experience the hope that enables me to interpret the events of history and inspires in me a commitment to justice and fraternity, to care for our common home and in such a way that no one feels excluded? Pope Francis

As we prepare for the annual journey of Lent to celebration of the Paschal mysteries, we are called to uproot sin in our lives. Once we repent of sin and ask forgiveness, then in faith we believe that we have been freed. But sometimes people act as if they have to do something to be free and not receive the unmerited grace from God. We are called to remember our sins, not as if they are unforgiven and there is more we need to do, but to give praise and thanksgiving to God for his loving mercy. One of the traps of the Devil is to convince us that we have to earn salvation, we have to earn God's love, we have to placate an angry God. This is all a lie. Salvation is a gift. Love is a gift. Our God is a loving God, who loves us no matter what. Yes, he is a God of justice and mercy. Embrace his mercy and love, then his justice will be rewarding rather than condemning. 

 "And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it." Luke 12: 29

This is another way of saying live in the present moment, focusing on the move of God in our life and in things around us. God speaks to us in different ways through the different circumstances of the now and the different people in the now. How much have we missed in the past, because we were focused on ourselves or our future? When God says: Be still and know that I am the Lord, he is speaking about the present moment.  The I AM is here in the now both within us and with us. Be attentive and be responsive, less you missed the grace of the now that will prepare you for the grace of the future-now.

 

Homily: Eight Sunday Year C

 

Reading 1: One’s speech and words tell us much about a person, his character, his values, his motives and his true self. One uses a sieve or a strainer to separate the useful and the good from what will be discarded. As the reading says, “so too does none’s speech discloses the bent of one’s mind.” How conscious are we of our speech? How observant, controlled and filtered is our speech? Do we filter our thoughts before we verbalize them or do we speak whatever we think, regardless of the consequences? This Letter of St. James speaks of the important role our tongue has. Like the rudder of a boat or the steering wheel of a car, the person can direct the boat or car. James says: “the tongue is a small part but it moves great things. By our tongues we bless God and by our tongues we speak evil of others, who have been made in the likeness of God.  

 

Gospel: Jesus picks up the theme of the first reading. How easy is it for us to notice the faults of others but be blind to our own faults!  Not only do we notice the faults of others, we verbalize them in a judgmental and condemning way. Jesus calls this hypocrisy. He tells us to work on our own faults, clean our own closet from its skeletons. Then if you are led by God to encourage another to deal with a fault, do it out of love and in love.

 

As we enter into Lent, what better area to work on than our thought and our speech? What will happen to us, if we would spend Lent conscious of filtering our negative, judgmental, critical, angry, destructive thoughts? What if we would bring these thoughts to the Lord at the foot of the cross, before we speak them without filter? Would we then be putting into practice the admonition of St. Paul when we wrote: “Whatever you do in word or deed, do it in the name of Jesus, giving praise to Go God the Father through him.” Two things would be accomplished. We would be working on the junk within us and we would build up in love the other person. Yes, there is a law of sin without each of us, but there is also the grace of God to help us overcome this law of sin, if we so choose.

 

Reading 2: Death is inevitable for each person. As the scripture says, there is a time to be born and a time to die. The question is will death defeat us or will we by the grace of God defeat death? Paul tells us that through Jesus we have been given the victory over the second death, which is eternal alienation for God.

 

In faith we know that we will live eternally. Physical death is a brief moment in our life span. But if we die separated from God, our eternally will be a confirmation of the same. If we die in union with God because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, then we, by God’s grace and mercy, will live with God eternally. Therefore, how shall we live? Paul gives us the answer. “Be firm, steadfast and always devoted to the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

 

 “You are my strength, I sing praise to you; you, God, are my fortress, my God on whom I can rely." Psalm 59: 17

What would our life be without God? That would be a life of being on our own for everything, a life of spiritual darkness, a life falling short of our destiny, a life forfeiting our eternal inheritance, a life of selfishness and of unfulfillment. But praise God for his fidelity to us, his everlasting love, his grace that gives us strength, reminding us of who we are and whose we are, why we are and where we are meant to be. Thus, we can choose a life with God or a life away from God. We can choose to depend on him or to depend solely on ourselves and others. It was the choice Joshua put before the Israelites. The decisions we make throughout our day will reflect our choice. "For me and my household, we will serve the Lord."

 The intimate relationship between the Father and the Son has a name. It is Spirit. Holy Spirit. “I want you to have my Spirit.” “Spirit” means “breath.” It comes from the ancient Greek word pneuma. “I want you to have my breathing. I want you to have that most intimate part of me so that the relationship that is between you and God is the same as between me and God, which is a divine relationship.” What you need to hear with your heart is that you are invited to dwell in the family of God. You are invited to be part of that intimate communion right now. Henri Nouwen

In creating us, God gave us the breath of life, which allows us to live freely each day. In recreating us in the waters of baptism, God gave us a share in his own divine life, allowing us to share with him intimately now and hopefully eternally. Like our human life-breath, which more often than not we are unaware of it, we can become unaware of the divine life-breath within us. Our human life-breath will cease one day. But our intimacy with God will continue, if we remain at one with God. Thank God for both, but especially for his divine life-breath. As we become more attentive to our intimacy with God, we will become responsive to his grace, which is preparing us for our full life with God eternally. 

 What is the desire of your heart? If it is not "we shall be like God, for we shall see him as he is", then our life will be a waste. "The entire life of a good Christian is in fact an exercise of holy desire. You do not yet see what you long for, but the very act of desiring prepares you, so that when he comes you may see and be utterly satisfied." (St. Augustine) We were created by God to be with God eternally. He is the beginning and end of every life. Keeping this goal before us, will help us to make the decisions necessary to be able to fulfill it by God's grace. Yes, the journey is long and difficult with many obstacles and false detouring signs to draw away from the goal. But our attitude needs to be that of St. Paul's: "This one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind, and stretching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the prize to which I am called in the life above."  Bon voyage! 

 As Christian disciples of Jesus we are called to be a leader in the name of Jesus. Our Lord made it clear that our leadership needs to be modeled after his ministry. His ministry was that of service, laying down his life for the sake of others. It is a service of unconditional love. That is the only way we become important in the eyes of God. It is not the way of the world, but is the way of the Lord.  Do we have a servant's heart after the heart of Jesus? Even though he was God/Man, he washed the feet of his disciples and said: "As I have done, so you must do."  When we put others ahead of us, when we serve another in love, when we seek the good of others, then we are reflecting the heart of a servant, after the heart of Jesus.

 It is hard for us to really and fully be attentive and comfortable in the present moment of God's grace in our lives.  Some live more in the past. The past is now just memories, not present reality. Some live in fear,  waiting for the next shoe to drop. Some live in the future of what ifs. The future is only known by God. Each moment of our lives is a gift from God to be enjoyed. The wonder and awe of the present moment is rich with meaning. If we keep looking back to the past or too far ahead to the future, we can miss the precious gems of the present moment. God is not the God of the past or of the future, but the God of the present moment. Though he was and will be, God is now. Here is where we can meet him. Here is where he waits for us.

 Seventh Sunday Gospel C

Jesus said to his disciples: “To you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic. Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. 

· How does the word of Jesus correspond or conflict with the learned behavior taught by the world today?

· The way of a disciple of Jesus must be different than the way of the world. One leads to eternal life and the other the destruction of life and relationships. Which do you want to choose?

· How does God treat us? This is the way we are to treat others. God moves from justice to mercy and love. Do we expect God to treat us in any other way than we treat others?

· Jesus gives specific examples how we are to move from justice to mercy in our relationship to others. How do we measure against them?

For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, and get back the same amount. But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.

· The love Jesus is requiring of us is not an emotional feeling, but a decision to act for the good of the other because God has shown us this kind of love when we were undeserving of it. Is our love for others reflective of this command of Jesus? If not, what will we decide to do?

· If we think Jesus is asking too much of us, view him on the cross and see that he put into action what he asked of us.

· The basis of what we do as disciples is not the way of the world but the way of the Lord. Which way do we choose to follow?

 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give, and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”

· What a sobering thought! The way we treat others is the way we are telling God to treat us. If we love others, forgive others, show kindness to others, then this is how God will judge us. But the opposite is also true. God has set the standard of mercy and love. But if we want the standard to be strict justice and non-forgiveness, so it will be.

· What needs to change in our life as a result of reflection on this passage?

· With Lent coming up what could be a good Lenten resolution as a result of this teaching of Jesus?

 In baptism we were anointed, consecrated and sealed with the Oil of Chrism as a disciple of Jesus Christ. A disciple is one who remains in the company of Jesus, so as to be formed and informed. Having had an encounter with the Lord, the disciple wants to grow in relationship with Jesus. That growth involves reading, reflecting and embracing the words of Scripture in our life style .  In confirmation we were once more anointed, consecrated and sealed with the Oil of Chrism as a witness of Jesus. Having spent time with Jesus to be formed and informed, now we are commissioned by Jesus to go and share the Good News of our salvation and of God's love with others. What kind of disciple/witness are we. As a disciple, we worship the Lord in the Eucharist. As a witness we invite and bring others with us to the celebration of the Eucharist. As a disciple, we study the word of God. As a witness, we invite others to study the word with us. As a disciple, we saw and learned how Jesus dealt with divine appointments. As a witness, we consciously are open to the divine appointments God has for us to share his love with others.

 All is grace. It is so easy for us to forget this truth. It is grace that I exist, that I have been redeemed, that I have been sanctified and anointed, that prayers are answered. The blessings I receive each day are signs of God's favor, not because I am worthy, but because of who God is.  I build upon the grace of God to me. How can I respond to his many favors of love to me? First, be mindful and grateful. Second, be the person you are called to be in the eyes of God. Third, use the grace moments given to you to make a difference in the lives of others. Fourth, let the seeds of grace bear a hundred fold for the glory of God.

 On this, Valentine's day, God desires to restate his personal and real love for each of us. It is easy to read about his love. But sometimes it is hard to allow that love to penetrate the surface of our heart. Maybe it is because we have been hurt before by those who said they loved us or should have loved us. We can't trust God's love because our experience of love is painful not comforting. We have a deep desire to be loved for the person that we are and not for what we do. As much as God loves us, he will not violate our space nor our will. Instead, he patiently knocks at the door of our heart, calling us by name, speaking his tender words of love, while waiting for us to open the door even slightly. He will not go away, because he loves us as his beloved son or daughter. Trust in the desire of your heart. 

 Someone has said: "I am who I am in the eyes of God, nothing more, nothing less."  My identity is not in my career, not in my accomplishments, not defined by others, nor by myself. God gives me my identity and with that my destiny. My identity is in Christ. I am by God's grace an adopted son of God, sharing in his divine life so that I can be with him eternally. As an adopted son of the Father, I am an heir in Christ. My inheritance is not material and temporal, but spiritual and eternal. The pledge and first down payment of my inheritance is the Holy Spirit. The Prodigal son squandered his inheritance; the elder son felt he was owed his inheritance. My response is to accept and live my identity in Christ, so that I can claim the gift of my inheritance as the grace from God that it is. 

 

Homily Sixth Sunday Year C

 

Reading 1: Jeremiah has been sent to call the people of Israel back to the Lord. Externally, they were going through the motions, but internally and relationally they were not in right order. Instead of trusting in the Lord, who had shown them his providential care in many ways, they sought to align themselves with other nations and kingdoms for their protection.

 

So Jeremiah spoke the word of God to them. “Cursed are those who trust in other human beings and not in God. You will be like a fruitless tree in the desert.” On the other hand, those who put their trust primarily in God’s providential care will be like a fruitful tree.

 

In a sense, we are like the Israelites. Though on our currency we say “In God we trust”, but in fact do we truly trust in God? There are some in our nation who want to remove God from all public awareness and relegate God to a private, personal experience. In our personal lives do we truly trust in God primarily or do we put our trust in ourselves and others? Is our trust in God merely verbal or is actually what sustains us in our daily life? Because the people of Jeremiah’s day refused to heed God’s word, they experienced the curse of defeat and exile.

 

Gospel: The first reading stressed the difference between those who trust in the Lord and those who did not. The first are blessed and the later are cursed. Jesus uses the same idea in the Gospel. Blessed vs woe. Underlying the four groups of people whom Jesus calls blessed are those who trust in the Lord, even though they are poor materially, go about hungry, weep over the sins of the times, and are persecuted on account of their relationship with Jesus. In spite of their situation, they put their trust in God to provide for them.

 

In contrast are those who are called woe, not because they are rich, or satisfied, or laughing or spoken well of. They do not put their trust in God, but in themselves and others.  It would be wrong to think that Jesus despised the rich or those have sufficient food to eat, or know how to enjoy life. The contrast Jesus makes here is the same he makes in the parable of the unnamed rich man and the beggar Lazarus. The rich man was indifferent about the plight of the beggar. His focus was his own satisfaction, forgetting that he was a beggar before the Lord and a steward of the Lord’s provisions for him. On the other hand, Lazarus put his hope and trust in God to provide for him.

 

Do we trust in the Lord? Paul himself said that whether he had or did not have, he put his trust in the Lord to provide for his needs.

 

Reading 2: Paul was dealing with those in the Corinthian community who questioned life after death and therefore the resurrection of the body. Paul’s response is “do you trust in the word of God or do you trust in your own thinking?” Paul then turns to the word of God, reminding them of the central mystery of our faith, namely the death and resurrection of Jesus from the dead. If we believe in the mystery of Jesus’ resurrection; if we believe that he has come to give us eternal life; if we believe that he said that when he will be with him, then we need to accept in faith that one day, though our bodies may turn to dust in the grave, nothing is impossible to God.

 

If God can create the first human being out of the clay of the earth, then he can raise our bodies up either to glory or to condemnation.  Each Sunday in the Creed, we profess this truth of revelation, namely, that, one day, God will raise our bodies to eternal life with him or eternal life alienated from him.

 There is a inner desire in our hearts to achieve. Some seek to achieve success or wealth or power or recognition, all of which is like dust in the graves of the deceased. There is only one thing worth striving for that is eternal life of glory and peace. God places that desire in our hearts. But Satan sows the weeds that look like wheat but is not. Instead of  embracing the gift of God, many times we allow the web of fool's gold to entice us on the wrong journey. But God in his goodness gives us many grace moments to recognize the difference and to choose what will truly make us happy. One road leads to destruction. The other to eternal fulfillment. It is our choice.

 Sixth Sunday Gospel C

Jesus came down with the twelve and stood on a stretch of level ground with a great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon. 

· Luke tells us that Gentiles from Tyre and Sidon as well as Jews from Judea and Jerusalem were going out to hear Jesus and experience his miraculous powers.

· What comes before this passage in Luke is the relating that Jesus spent the night on the mountain side in prayer and followed this by naming the twelve apostles. Thus he came down with the twelve.

· What we have is Luke’s version of the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew’s Gospel.

· Luke’s version is shorter because, though he is dependent on Matthew for one of his sources, his audience is different from Matthew. Matthew is predominately speaking to Jewish converts; Luke to Gentile converts.

And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. 

· Luke addresses the economically and socially poor and calls them blessed.  Matthew focuses on the religious and spiritual poor who depend on the Lord for all.

Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. 

· Again the same distinction is made by Luke and Matthew: Luke is concerned about the people in his community who are without proper amount of food and calls them blessed. While they may suffer now, they will be blessed. Matthew looks at those who are hungry and thirsty for justice and righteousness.

Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh. 

· Luke is addressing the physically sad; Matthew blesses those who mourn because of sin.

Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way

· Do we experience some of this in our life because we try to follow Jesus? If so, we should be happy to know that we will be blessed, not now but in heaven.

But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.

· Luke provides four “beatitudes”; Matthew gives eight.

· Luke balances the picture by adding some negative contrasts: four woes. These are absent from Matthew.

· Luke addresses those who are financially rich but who do not share their blessings with those who are poor.

Woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry. 

· In contrast to those above who are hungry now and who will be satisfied later, Luke  tells those who are physically filled now that they will be hungry because they did not share with others.

Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep. 

· Luke reminds those who enjoy their lives without concern for others or at the expense of others that the day will come when their situation will become reversed.

· Recall the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the poor man. (Lk 16:19-31)

Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.”

· Notice all four woes are in contrast to the four blessings. Luke seeks to warn those in his community what true discipleship is all about.

· What application can you make in your own life from this passage?

"Patience means to remain close to the moment and to fully taste where you are so that the seeds that are sown in the moment can grow and lead you to the future. The future is hidden in the present as a seed in fertile ground. By nurturing and tending the soil in which we stand we come in touch with the promise." Henri Nouwen

Sometimes we try to rush the process of life, even our spiritual life, because we want to pass the present moment and quickly fast forward into the future. But the seed of God's grace of the present moment is like the seed the farmer plants in the ground that he cultivated. If he goes every moment to see growth, he will be disappointed. But if he lived in the present moment, allowing the seed to go through the natural process of fermentation, then in time, not only will he see a plant but the fruit of that plant. We are impatient with ourselves. We expect that once we give our lives to Jesus, we would be transformed into a saint overnight. The spiritual journey is like that seed. Be attentive to what God is saying to you in the present moment, follow his direction and at the end of life enjoy the fruit of the spiritual life, life in Christ.

 Have you ever thought that God is our home. This is an image frequent in the scriptures. He is not only our final resting place, to be with him eternally, but he is our place of refuge in the present moment. God makes us a place of his dwelling, sharing his divine life, so that we may make him our eternal dwelling. The home is a place of love, a place of comfort and security, a place of rest. If we are resting in the Lord now, if we are finding comfort in the Lord now, if we are not resting in the Lord now, how can we expect to be with him after this life? When God becomes our place of return after our labors, then we will find true refreshment from our labors. Did not Jesus invite us to come to him in the midst of our labors and difficulties and find the grace of the moment? Make God our home and he will make his home ours.

 Do you believe that God has a plan for you? Do you believe that what look like obstacles are really bumps on the road of life? God may use these obstacles to prepare us for what he really want us to experience in our fidelity to him. God may also use these blocks or difficult experiences to draw us closer to himself. When St. Paul cried out to the Lord because of the "thorn in his side", God showed him that this was an opportunity to depend more on God's grace. It was a teaching moment in Paul's life and understanding of God's plan for him. He learned not to be overcome by the blocks or difficulties but to use them as a stepping stones to holiness. 

 

Homily Fifth Sunday Year C

 

Reading 1: Last Sunday we heard the call of Jeremiah to be a prophet. In today’s readings we heard the call of Isaiah, Paul and Peter. Like Jeremiah, Isaiah experiences through a vision God’s call to be a prophet. Isaiah sees the glory of God and hears the song of the angels crying out “Holy, Holy, Holy!” His first response was the acknowledgment of his sinful state.

 

God’s response was to symbolically purify him. Then God shares with him the reason for the vision. Will he accept the role of prophet and go to the Israelites with God’ message? Unlike Jeremiah, Isaiah didn’t hesitate to say “Yes, send me.”

 

Let’s look at the process. Whenever there is an encounter with the Divine, there is always a feeling of unworthiness on the side of the human. Isaiah experienced this unworthiness and considered himself doomed and lost for encountering the Divine. But God’s purpose is to prepare him for a greater mission and purpose.

 

If we have had an encounter with God, maybe not as dramatic as Isaiah, we have also experienced our unworthiness. But what God is seeking from us is the readiness response to him like Isaiah: to do the will of God no matter the cost. Like other prophets, Isaiah suffered mainly because he spoke the Word of God yet the people did not receive it nor respond to it. In spite of that, he continued to speak the Word of God.

 

Reading 2: St Paul discusses the mission he received from Christ to be an Apostle to the nations. Paul’s encounter with the Divine took place on his way to Damascus to persecute the followers of Christ. Years later, as he looked back on that event, Paul experienced the same unworthiness and considered himself unfit to be called an Apostle. But by God’s grace he was. It was the same grace/favor of God that called Isaiah, Peter, Andrew, James and John. Paul was a zealot in preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which has the power to save.

 

It is the grace of God that has saved us through Jesus’ death and resurrection and calls us to follow him in spite of our sinfulness. What are we called to be and do? We are called to be disciple/witnesses who preach by our words and life the good news of God’s love and mercy.

 

Gospel: We have here the call of the first disciples by Jesus. Jesus encounters Peter, Andrew, James and John. He has already met Andrew and John at the Jordan after being baptized. He has already met Peter, who was brought to Jesus by Andrew. However, those encounters did not galvanized them as disciples.

 

It is this event of the miraculous catch of fish that became the tipping point for them. They had been fishing all night and had caught nothing. So you can imagine the initial hesitation but eventual agreement of Peter to be obedient to Jesus when he said to put out into the deep. Was he just humoring Jesus who is not a fisherman? Expert fishermen knew you don’t expect to catch much around noon.

 

But when they lowered their nets at the spot Jesus indicated and caught the enormous amount of fish, they were overwhelmed. Peter’s disbelief turned into astonishment and then to unworthiness. But Jesus’ response is the same as God’s to Isaiah. As God called Isaiah to be his prophet in spite of his sinfulness, Jesus invites Peter and the others to be his disciples. “Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” Like Isaiah, they left everything to follow him.

 

Today’s Gospel marks the official beginning point in the relationship between Jesus and Peter. This is also the beginning of the leadership role that Peter will have within the community of disciples. Peter was chosen for this role.

 

God encounters us not just once but at different times but the process is always the same. We experience something beyond us; we recognize our sinfulness; we are called to repent and be open to the more God wants to reveal. These encounters have a twofold purpose: greater intimacy and growth in holiness in order to have a more effective ministry.

 

 

 One of the promises Jesus has made us is that he will be within us and with us always. This is not a feeling but a faith awareness and a faith conviction. He shares his divine life with us as a means of being with us in an intimate way. When we take time to pray and share with him, we are making his presence a conscious reality. Awareness of his presence is what made the lives of the saints in the midst of their struggles meaningful. They knew they were never alone. They knew in faith that Jesus was with them, walking alongside of them on their journey. We are never alone. As Paul dealt with the "thorn in his side", he was reminded that God's grace was also present to him. With confidence Paul could proclaim that in Christ he can do all things. Never forget the promise of Jesus and you will never be alone.

 Fifth Sunday Gospel C

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. 

· There is a pattern to Jesus’ ministry. He teaches and then confirms his message with a miraculous sign. Or he performs a sign and, having gotten their attention, then teaches. Both sign and word are messages.

· In this case, the message was for Simon and his friends as well. What he taught we do not know but it could have been a preparation for the invitation to Simon and companions to become his disciples and follow him.

· It was not by accident that he chose Simon’s boat. This was not the first time that Jesus and Simon have met. In John’s Gospel we are told of an initial or preparatory encounter prior to this event.

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.” 

· Sometimes we are more comfortable on the shores of life—in our comfort zone. But God calls us to put out into the deep.  What is the area in your life that God is calling you to put out into the deep and move away from your comfort zone?

· Simon had no clue what was about to happen would be life changing for him. Has God done something in your life that was also life-changing, which you were not prepared for?

· What was the first step for Simon and for us? Do what he tells us, even though we do not understand.

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.

· What is the second step for Simon and for us? Recognizing our sinfulness and unworthiness and repent.

· Peter’s own unworthiness and sinfulness was a block to going deeper in his own life. What is the block in our lives? Can we like Peter acknowledge the block, the area of sin and like Peter not let it be a block any longer?

 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. 

· What is the third step?  What is an apparent block to us is not an obstacle for Jesus to overcome. This was not the end of the story for Peter or for us.

· The miracle was a preview of what Jesus wanted to do it their lives. But they had to be willing to let go their comfort zone and trust in Jesus and follow him no matter the cost. This is what it means to put out into the deep.

· Peter and his companions were not perfect when they responded to Jesus’ invitation. They grew in relationship as they spent time with Jesus.

· What is the fourth step? We must be willing to surrender and follow the path the Jesus begins to show us in our life.

· What is God saying to you as you reflect on this passage? 

 "To see God, to be like God: this is our hope. And today… we need to think a little about this hope: this hope that accompanies us in life. The first Christians depicted hope with an anchor, as though life were an anchor cast on Heaven’s shores and all of us journeying to that shore, clinging to the anchor’s rope. This is a beautiful image of hope: to have our hearts anchored there, where our beloved predecessors are, where the Saints are, where Jesus is, where God is. This is the hope that does not disappoint; today and tomorrow are days of hope.” Pope Francis

If we don't have this hope of seeing God face to face one day and being with him eternally, then what do we  hope for that is greater or more lasting? Seeing God one day in all his glory is the fulfillment of our destiny for existence. It is not a pie-in-the-sky panacea, like fool's gold. This is the desire God has put in the heart of each one who is truly seeking the truth. This is the hope that has strengthened and sustained millions of believers over the centuries. Without this active hope we will not be able to make sense of the darkness and pain all around us. Ask the Holy Spirit to stir this gift of hope in your heart, so that like a sure light you can reach the goal of your hope, God.

 For centuries the world has tried to live without God. Yet, "loneliness, isolation, lack of friendship and intimacy, broken relationships, boredom, feelings of emptiness and depression, and a deep sense of uselessness" still plague humanity in spite of its scientific advances. Each century, each decade, each day, the world needs not intellectual prophets but God-led prophets, who cry out "return to the Lord, with all your heart."  By virtue of Baptism and Confirmation each of us is gifted, anointed and empowered to be that witness needed by the people around us, who are in need of God's love and compassion, mercy and forgiveness, healing and hope. Be open and pray each day to be available to God in whatever way he desires to minister through you. Then, watch God at work