4th Sunday after Pentecost

“At thy word I will let down the net...”

Dear Faithful,

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away [Mk 13,31] said Our Lord, and we say very well that everything that Our Lord does has eternal value. Our Lord is God Himself, and as God is eternal, never changing, always perfect, so everything that Our did and said is eternal, always perfect.

For this reason the gospel can be understood in many ways - that is to say, that the one true sense of the Scripture has many consequences which the text itself serves to signify. The very actions and words of Our Lord are not simply historical acts, but deeds that also signify the future and present mysteries. The lesson we read in the gospel can serve as an example that Our Lord is the same, today, yesterday and tomorrow.

We read that Our Lord stood upon the lake, as the fishermen mended their nets. And we read that Our Lord entered into the ship that was Peter’s, in order to teach the multitudes. Notice that Our Lord does nothing by accident, every action and every detail has a significance and lesson for us today. As we read in the Scriptures [1 Peter 3], the boat of Noah is a figure of the Church, where the souls that are saved from the deluge are saved through baptism, thus it should not surprise us that Our Lord should enter the boat of Peter in order to teach, for Our Lord teaches us through the Church of which Peter is the head.

The gospel says that the fishers were mending their nets. The nets of the Apostles are the interweaving words and certain folds of speech, the intricacies of argument which do not let those escape once they are caught. The intertwined threads make a tissue, like the arguments of logic which keep one bound, leaving all that is extraneous behind, like water passing through the net holds the fish bound. Just like action follows from conviction, so once we are held by the truth, so we are bound to put it into action.

And so the fishermen were mending them, that is to say, attempting to repair the doctrine that was insufficient, as we read, that they worked all night without catching anything. The Apostles were still very much attached to earthly things and to worldly doctrines, not yet having been instructed by Our Lord. And so their nets were in need of mending, that is to say, by the consequence of original sin, men are born in ignorance and even what little convictions they have are liable to break and unable to hold the wavering mind.

And so Our Lord, as we read, tells Peter to draw back a little from the land, that is to say, to detach himself from worldly things. Our Lord even tells Peter to launch out into the deep, that is, into the profound mystery of God. St. Paul will speak to us of the breadth, and length, and height, and depth of the charity of Christ, which surpasseth all knowledge [Ephesians 3.18]. The response of Peter shows the weakness of his understanding, and yet also his great faith. We have labored all the night, and have taken nothing. The poor human doctrines is unable to pull souls out of the tossing of the sea of passions. Yet St. Peter then demonstrates his faith, when he says: “But at Thy Word I will let down the net”. Peter believes the words of Our Lord.

Belief is something more than knowledge. Belief implies not only the acceptance of something as true, but also a confidence and a conviction and trust. We believe someone not only because they know more about something than we do, but also because we are certain that they are not lying to us. St. Peter shows both these aspects of faith: He trusts Our Lord, and believes that He is speaking the truth in spite of what his experience has shown him - there are no fish to be caught Yet he lowers down his net. Thus he trusts in what he does not perceive, and believes in the word of Our Lord.

And the gospel says, that they caught an enormous quantity of fish. Our Lord rewards the faith of Peter with an enormous catch of fish. Detached from earthly things, he reaps the rewards of his faith. And the gospel says that their net broke - their earthly reasoning could not account for such a miraculous catch. The companions of Peter then come to help them, and they fill the ships with fishes. This symbolizes the other Apostles, and their successors the bishops, who must work in union with Peter to bring in the enormous catch of souls who would be brought out of the sea of ignorance into the boat, in such great quantities that boat would almost sink.

The gospel tells us that the boat would almost sink, and in another place we Our Lord compares the kingdom of heaven to a fisherman who casts his nets into the sea, and the angels who cast out the bad and keep the good. So also the Church is burdened by the weight of souls, but especially by those who are burdened by the weight of sin. Yet in spite of the weakness and malice of men, the ship did not sink. It is not only the miraculous catch which is miracle of the Divine Master, but also the fact that the ship could hold such an enormous host without sinking into the waves.

So great was the miracle that Simon Peter is astonished, and cries out in fright at seeing himself so unworthy of such a miracle. He fears the power of Our Lord, who as master of heaven and earth has wrought this miracle. He cries out, ‘for I am a sinful man, O Lord’ as he realizes that the Person who just wrought this miracle will also be the one who will judge him on the last day.

This lesson is still useful for us, dear faithful, as a reminder that even the highest authority in the Church, and the miracles that they work upon the altar, does not mean that they are not also men like us. They too, like St. Peter, can cry out ‘for I am a sinful man’, especially if they do not do like St. Peter does and not detach themselves from the land, or refuse to let down the net. That is to say, the ministers of Christ must be obedient to the words of Our Lord, and launch out into the deep, that is to say, search the profundity of Christian doctrine, in order to have a miraculous catch of souls. Hence the importance for us, to pray often for the sending of holy priests, and to make sacrifices for the sanctification of priests.

And lastly Our Lord, seeing in St. Peter the dispositions befitting the head of the Church, namely his faith, his obedience and his humility, states to him : “Fear not, henceforth thou shalt catch men”. St. Peter receives his vocation, a vocation which will later be fulfilled when Our Lord says to him: ‘upon this Peter I will build my Church”.

This conversion of St. Peter through the miraculous catch was complete, for we read in the Gospel: “and leaving all things, they followed Him”. Leaving behind the earthly considerations and earthly fortune, they take up a new calling. They no longer have a worldly doctrine and worldly reasoning, but a divine calling, a divine doctrine, a divine net with which to catch souls, souls which he will draw out of ignorance and error in order to keep them in the Church.

And so my dear faithful, on this day when we recall the vocation of St. Peter, let us pray especially for the successor of St. Peter, the Pope. Let us pray that he too might be detached from material and worldly considerations, and launch out into the deep, that is to say, by preaching clearly the doctrine of the Church. So many souls are lost today because the Church has ceased to teach, cease to draw out her nets into society in order to draw them to the truth. The bark of Peter is taking on water more than fishes, and the ship seems to sink.

Yet we have the divine promise that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church, in spite of the malice of men, and even of the sins of St. Peter himself which he confesses today before the Lord. But the Church will not continue without each of us doing his part. Each of us must pray for the salvation of his soul, and this salvation, through grace, comes through the ministers of Our Lord. Thus each of us must pray for priests, for the Bishops and for the Pope, for their sanctification which will be the assurance of our own, and so also the joy and astonishment of St. Peter will also be our own, seeing the working of grace unto that glory that will be ours forever and ever. Amen.