From now on you will be catching men

4 SEPTEMBER (Lk 5,1-11)

The Gospel passage of today is full of great teachings. It deserves all of our attention. Jesus does not get on any boat to teach. He gets on the boat that is Simon’s. Jesus does not teach his truth, does not give the fullness of his grace, does not pour the Holy Spirit over the world from any church. He works all this from the Church that is of Simon; that is, from his Church that He founded upon him. He does not know other Churches. He cannot know any other because they have not been founded by him, but by men. Everyone is called, obliged to talk from his Church. Christ from his. Others from their own. But if Christ does not speak from the other churches, who speaks, who teaches and who trains the crowds? Is it men or the Lord? Of course, it is men.

This truth must be shouted from the Church of Peter not as a boasting, vainglory, exaltation of herself and a kind of spiritual narcissism. It must be shouted out of love for the men to be saved, to be redeemed and to be conducted into the true Word of Lord Jesus. Every man existing on our earth has the right to know what the truth that saves, redeems and justifies him, is. Every man must know where to find the fullness of grace and truth. It is his right to know it and it is the Church’s most solemn obligation to provide the true science of salvation and redemption. This obligation involves every member of the body of Christ, without exception, even if with different responsibilities and specific tasks. In fact, one is the duty of the ordained minister another that of the lay faithful. One is the responsibility of the Apostles , another the one of the baptized people, another that of the confirmed persons. Everyone is responsible for the sacraments he received.

Not only is Christ obliged, by the will of the Father, to teach from the boat of the Church founded on Peter, every faithful disciple of Jesus must teach from the same boat. That is, he must teach from the fullness of his truth, his grace and his ontological supernatural constitution. Today, this is jut what it is not done. Everyone teaches from his heart, from his own feelings, from his own will, from his theories, from his dogmas, from his doctrines and his philosophies. And unfortunately this happens in the same boat of Peter. We are in the same boat, but every one teaches on his own. This autonomy includes both the universal Church and the particular one. Every parish is likely to be a voice on its own. No voice from the boat, but voice on the boat. It is necessary to put a remedy. The Church will truly be herself when all of her sons preach from the Church, for the Church and in the Church.

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 signaled 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.

Peter is called by Jesus to be a fisher of men. If he also wants to fish for men in the network of God, he must go to the deep with the boat of the Church, not with other boats. The other boats can only come to his aid. It is the others that come to his aid. However, the very abundant fishing is only his, only from his boat. The other boats did not catch anything. They are not the boat of Peter. If only we all believed in this truth of the Church of Jesus Christ, the world could all be saved.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints make us from Peter’s boat.