My Dear People, 

In this week’s Gospel, Peter is reluctant to obey Jesus’s command. Who is this rabbi from Nazareth who thinks he knows about fishing? First of all, the prime time for fishing was at night, and Simon and his co-workers had already labored all night, and there were no fish to be had. If there were no fish at night, there certainly wouldn’t be any in broad daylight.  

Secondly, better places for fishing were close to shore, where there were plenty of plants for the fish to feed on, not out in the relatively empty deep water where Jesus told Peter to set out from shore. The rabbi from Nazareth wants them to go on a fool’s mission, getting their just-cleaned nets dirty again in a vain effort. Nevertheless, Simon defers to Jesus’s wishes. Is it the force of Jesus’s personality? A “sixth sense” that this is no ordinary rabbi? Deference for the public prestige that Jesus has gained? An unwillingness to publicly oppose a clergyman renowned for his healing and teachings? 

When he sees the catch of fish, Simon realizes he is in the presence of no ordinary teacher. This man has control over the forces of nature. He seems to have compelled the fish to swarm in a place in the lake and at a time that was contrary to their natural habits. No one can wield such power unless He has received it from God. In the face of God’s presence in the person of this rabbi, Jesus, Peter is overcome with a sense of his own smallness, and perhaps also with shame for having doubted Jesus’s wisdom and abilities just a few moments before. 

The parallelism with the First Reading is obvious. Both Isaiah and Peter are struck by their “uncleanliness” or sinfulness when they realize that they are in the presence of the Almighty. Peter recognizes that Jesus is no mere man. One doesn’t prostrate oneself in front of a good teacher and plead with him to depart because of one’s sinfulness. Peter feels unworthiness in the presence of the Transcendent. Fear, at the large catch of fish they reeled into their boats, seized him, and all those with him. 

One doesn’t respond in fear to a simple traveling preacher, no matter how good his preaching. Luke is gradually moving us toward realizing that Jesus is God. 

Meanwhile, Jesus reassures Peter that he will be a fisher of men. This concept “fisher of men” was foreseen by Jeremiah who mentions that one day God would send “fishers” to search out the remnants of the people of Israel. Jesus introduces a new element to the fulfillment of this prophecy—in God’s mysterious will, the “fishers” that he sends are not seeking to exterminate the “fish” (remnant of Israel), but now to gather them back together.  The ministry of the Apostles is, first of all, to the “lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matt 10:6)

The message of this Gospel for us today can be summed up in the Latin phrase of beloved St John Paul II:  Duc in Altum!  “Put out into the deep!” This is Jesus’ command to Peter, and it remains His will for the whole Church. Yes, we are facing a hostile culture. Yes, there are “bad fish” out there. Yes, we have been laboring for years “ in the night” and don’t seem to have gotten anywhere. None of that can prevent the Lord from delivering an abundant catch. But if we fail to rise to His challenge and we disobey the command to sail out to the deep water, it won’t happen. Recent pontiffs have been emphatically calling on Catholics to take risks in order to go into the “deep water” and spread the Gospel. Let’s heed their call and go fishing. 

Yours in Christ, 

Fr. Vincent Clemente