DEPART FROM ME, LORD

1 Cor 3,18-23; Ps 23; Lk 5,1-11
6 SEPTEMBER

In the temple, Isaiah contemplates the glory of the Lord. The light of his God reveals his spiritual paucity. He sees himself as a man with impure lips that lives in a people with impure lips. The Lord purifies him, cleanses him of his impurity and he offers himself to be a prophet among the people. Whoever sees God always sees himself as a sinner.

In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, with the train of his garment filling the temple. Seraphim were stationed above; each of them had six wings: with two they veiled their faces, with two they veiled their feet, and with two they hovered aloft. “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts!” they cried one to the other. “All the earth is filled with his glory!” At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shook and the house was filled with smoke. Then I said, “Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding an ember which he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with it. “See,” he said, “now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” “Here I am,” I said; “send me!” (Is 6,1-8).

Peter is not in the temple. He is in the Sea of ​​Galilee. He fishes for an entire night, but without catching anything. On the word of the Lord, he returns to the open sea, throws the nets and takes a large quantity of fish. Peter lives an experience similar to that of Isaiah. He contemplates the glory of Christ Jesus. He sees himself as a sinner. He asks him to depart from him. Jesus does not purify him with burning coals. He calls him to follow him. He will operate purification on Peter slowly, day after day. Peter will receive the final touch in the courtyard of the high priest, when he experiences all his human limitation and his nothingness. It is his bitter tears the hot coals that will make him pure and constitute him as a true prophet in the New People of the Lord. He will receive the final blow when he is crucified for his Master. It will be his blood what washes him from every stain of his humanity.

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 signalled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that they 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.

With Peter, the vocation becomes a true path of true purification. We start as sinners and every day, following the Master, He purifies us in our thoughts, our heart, our will, our feelings and our body. If we do not follow Him, but ourselves or teachers according to the flesh, not only do we not accomplish any purification, we pass from an imperfect state to an even more imperfect state, which comes up to the abandonment of the mission itself and also of the ministry. Today, the crisis is entirely to be found in the non-sequel of Lord Jesus. Too many human masters are followed and many thoughts of the earth are pursued. In this way, one is formed in the image of the earth and of the world. We are undressed of the image of Christ the Lord. Peter never was separated from the Master. He did not imitate Judas who was detached from Him and was overwhelmed by concupiscence. Today many are overwhelmed by the sin of the world, because they have turned their eyes away from Crucified Jesus.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints make us true disciples of Jesus for all our days.