Homily for the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
2 Cor 9:6-11
Luke 5:1-11
Did you ever notice, man is a stubborn creature, a creature of habit. Often, when presented with new ideas, new ways of doing things, we resist; we say, “that’s not how we’ve done it before”. That’s Peter’s initial reaction here.
Jesus tells him to lower the nets in the water
“Master, we’ve worked all night and we’ve caught nothing” was Peter’s initial response. “We’ve been doing it this way”. “It won’t work if we do it another way”. Then he catches himself. “But at your command, I’ll lower the nets”.
And, of course, they caught so many fish that it nearly sank the boat!
What brought about this change? After all, it was early in our Lord’s ministry; Peter didn’t really know him well, not yet. So, why would he be willing to follow his command?
In the previous chapter, we see a series of events preceding this day. Jesus preaching. Jesus casting out unclean spirits. Jesus healing the sick. And the healings included Peter’s mother-in-law. So Peter’s reaction to Jesus’s command was to ignore the evidence of his personal experience and, instead, trust in the authority of Jesus over nature - an authority which he’d already seen in action.
Do you recall what happened at the wedding at Cana? Mary said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you to do”. And don’t we indicate, at least verbally, our willingness to do that, whenever we pray? “Thy kingdom come, THY WILL BE DONE, on Earth as it is in heaven”.
How do we find God’s will?
There are two answers.
Number one - read. Read the Bible. Read the catechism. Read the Church services. Read each with a prayerful attitude, seeking understanding, asking the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to truth. Paul wrote to Timothy, “Study to show yourself approved”.
Number two is related. Pray.
I’m not talking about the prayer that says, “God, be in this situation”, or “God, help those people”, or such. Those are good, but they’re not prayers that we can learn from. Why? Because WE do the talking in those prayers, and we don’t give God the chance to speak to us.
No, the prayers I’m talking about are things like the Rosary. When we meditate on a mystery while praying the Hail Mary, we enter into the mystery and learn from it.
I’m talking about prayers like the various Akathists. They’re prayers of praise, but they also teach us the nature of Christ, or the grace imparted to Mary, or the saint in question.
I’m talking about praying the psalms. When we pray, “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord”, and really cry to Him out of the depths of our soul - not just one time, but daily pray it, it changes us. And it teaches us to look for him in the depth of our souls.
And then, there’s just sitting silently in His presence. Or saying a simple prayer with an icon. Sometimes just saying His name softly, while fixing our gaze on Him. Jesus. Jesus.
The quieter we are, the more we give room for him to actually say something to us.
A priest was once asked a theological question to which he didn’t have the answer. He didn’t turn to his theology books, however. Instead, he went to an icon of the Lord, and just prayed the Jesus Prayer - Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. After praying it for a period of time, our Lord did just that - He had mercy on the priest and answered the question.
So, when is the time to start doing it?
In our epistle a few weeks ago, Paul told us, “Now is the day of salvation”. Our Lord is waiting for us to turn to him. And, as we hear in today's epistle, "God is able to make every grace abundant for you, so that in all things, always having all you need, you may have an abundance for every good work".
You see, growing in faith means giving it away. Why study if you can't impart that knowledge to others? But, in doing that, we grow in the very thing which we give away. Or, as Paul says, "Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully", and "The one who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You are being enriched in every way for all generosity, which through us produces thanksgiving to God".
St. Francis said, "preach always; when necessary use words". When you do a work of mercy, corporeal or spiritual, you're preaching. You're giving away your faith.
So, my brothers and sisters,
- Do what he tells you to do
- Study the faith
- Pray the faith
- Give the faith away!
Comments
Post a Comment