While the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret. And he saw two boats by the lake; but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had ceased speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a great shoal of fish; and as their nets were breaking, they beckoned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, and leaving everything they followed Him. Luke — 5: 1-11
It’s been a windy and cold September day here in Buenos Aires. Smoke from the recent Amazon forest fires may be blocking some of the sunlight therefore making this early part of the month quite cold, colder perhaps than the previous month. That is not the only unusual thing going on around here. Yours truly seems to be under some kind of divine schedule for synchronicity.
This morning I arrived a few minutes late to Mass due to some unusual heavy traffic. It was a bitter cold morning. To avoid being a nuisance I remained in a back pew near the middle of the nave. About ten or fifteen people were in attendance. Everything went normally from there but at a certain point of the Mass the wind unexpectedly blew open the lateral door of the Church just a few feet from where I was standing. The cold wind startled me and as I looked in the direction of the open door, I noticed that next to the entrance there was a large image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. “Our Lady may come in any time” I thought.
Later during the day I decided to go to the evening Mass at a different parish. It was a good Mass with good attendance in spite of the even more bitter cold. The reading of the Gospel was the one I copied at the beginning of this post.
We have revisited this story here many times. I never seem to have enough of it but this evening when I heard it one more time, I thought: “We are going into the deep” and I remembered my surprise as the door flung open by itself that morning.
Peter and his men had been toiling all night for naught. When they returned ashore, Jesus asked them to use the boat as a platform, most likely to take advantage of the natural amplification effect of the quiet waters. After preaching to the people gathered at the beach, Jesus instructs Peter to go into the deep part of the lake. Peter is surprised. Not having caught anything at all at night, he knew for certain that there was going to be even less fish to catch during the day. Yet, off they go and the catch turns to be quite abundant.
Think of this: our time is perhaps the darkest hour in what has been the long-long night of man’s toiling upon this earth. Observing the world, one can hardly deny the fact that Our Lord may irrupt into our world anytime. He will then lead us out of the shallow pestilent waters we are threading today. We will hear his voice once again to go into the deep. We will find out that we cannot ignore his orders. And we will be transformed like Peter and his men, in one instant of time. He will lead us to an age of history we cannot even imagine yet.
What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. — 1 Corinthians 15:50-53 NRSVACE
Peter and his men could not remain mere fishermen. They had to be transformed. “The deep” acquires a double meaning, the obvious is the deepest part of the Lake of Gennesaret but now it is also that deep part of our soul. There lives a man we do not yet know. That man is just like me and you but yet, so different from us as Peter the Fisherman of Galilee was different from Peter the First Bishop of Rome.
Expect the door to that new world to be flung open at any time. When you see that happen, abandon everything and follow Him.
The cold wind startled me and as I looked in the direction of the open door, there was the image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. (Carlos, did you really see the image of Our Lady, or was it in your mind?)…wow…jo
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There is an image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel next to the door. A solid image. I did not have a vision! 😀
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Weather patterns we were used to seem to be changing everywhere.
Here in Québec, Canada, the last 3 winters have been unusually cold (and it is normally cold enough) and the last two summers, including this one, unsually hot.
And there is no more periods of transition for spring and autumn. We are going from winter to summer and from summer almost to winter.
Again this year it is the same. It was 30 degrees 10 days ago during the day. But since then, we have had ground frost during the night in certain parts of Québec the last few days.
It was not like that five years ago. The transition from summer to winter was smoother.
The same can be said about winter to summer. We do not have a spring season anymore. So the ice on the many rivers of Québec are melting too fast and there have been “never seen before” flooding for two of the last three spring seasons with houses damaged etc…
Something is happening. The weather is strange. Is it the weight of sins affecting the weather?
We have to pray the Rosary with much fervor to hasten the return of Jesus.
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I thank God for Catholic bloggers during Francis’ reign. Thank you for writing.
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Thank you for your kind encouragement Ailish Uí Laoighre! 🙂
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MICHEL BÉLISLE:
Sin is disorder. Materialists do not recognize the connection between sin and natural imbalances, first of the mind —what we called the ‘fruits of the flesh’— and then of our environment. Sin is the reason we do not live in Eden anymore. It seems to me that mortal sin has a multiplying effect. When the contraceptive pill changed the sexual mores of mankind, the economy (to name one example) changed as more and more young women entered the workforce in the so-called “planned” families era. At first there was an explosion of apparent prosperity but economists know the economy has been sluggish ever since and more prone to sudden adjustments. Now we have Bernie Sanders reviving the ancient Aztec idea of killing people to save the environment and the economy: he proposes abortion galore, euthanasia, etc. Nothing new with Bernie’s idea. That is exactly what they do in China, India, and in the US in a more subtle way. I for one can see the wall growing in the horizon as we fast approach the point of no return. No human agent can stop us. We are going to hit that thing with full force. Receive Communion often, trust, pray the Rosary and wear the Scapular. And hold on to God for dear life. This is going to get worse fast and then we will be on the other side in a different world. If I am right or wrong, time will tell.
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I think it is Anne Catherine Emmerich to whom an angel who served for her as a guide said: “Where I am, hell cannot be” or something like that.
I think the same is true of the Catholic Church. If you are faithful to the Sacraments and the prayer of the Catholic Church, you are not even on this earth.
But we suffer anyway to watch what is happening in our sad days which are reminiscent of the days of Noah.
As you say Carlos, sin is the problem. And it seems to affect the earth, the climate, weather patterns, even the behavior of animals.
I hope Fr Scanlon is right and this crazy world won’t last any longer the way it is now.
I pray the Rosary to hasten the return of Jesus.
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