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Manila Bulletin devider Opinion devider We are all fishers of men

We are all fishers of men

Published Feb 8, 2025 10:14 pm

REFLECTIONS TODAY

Gird your loins

Gospel • Luke 5:1-11

Douglas C. Lloyd was an American minister and author best known for his historical novel “The Robe,” which hit the screen in 1953 and starred Richard Burton.


This novel about the seamless tunic worn by Jesus in his passion was followed by a sequel, which is a fictionalized account of the life of Simon Peter. 


Its title, “The Big Fisherman,” alludes to Peter’s physical stature and authority in the early Church. Mark and Matthew write of Simon being called by Jesus as he was casting his net in Lake Gennesaret. 
In John, he is invited by his brother Andrew to see Jesus. Luke has another perspective of the call of Simon. He paints it along the line of “prophetic calls” in the Bible. 


The background would probably be the call of the prophet Isaiah (First Reading). When Isaiah saw the vision of the Lord in the temple, he felt his unworthiness and smallness as a human being: 
“I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips” (v 5). He had to be cleansed so that he could be a worthy shaliah or ambassador of the Holy One. 


Following this pattern, Luke presents Simon falling at the feet of Jesus after witnessing Jesus’ miracle of the great catch of fish. 


Simon acknowledges that he is a sinner, and he is not worthy to stand before Jesus. But Jesus reassures him (“Do not be afraid” v 10), and sends him as a shaliah, to catch men and women for the Kingdom of God. 


This Jubilee 2025 brings to mind the Great Jubilee 2000. 


Pope John Paul II had presented a “program” for the Church after the celebration of the Great Jubilee, where he recalled this particular incident in the Gospel and from it coined a clarion call for a new stage of the Church’s journey: Duc in altum! “Put out into the deep for a catch” (Lk 5:4). 


The Holy Father writes: “Duc in altum! These words ring out for us today, and they invite us to remember the past with gratitude, to live the present with enthusiasm and to look forward to the future with confidence: ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever’ (Heb 13:8)” (Novo Millennio Ineunte, 1). Even as we focus on the motto, Pilgrims of Hope, the challenge is the same. 
The People of God, journeying in the “bark of Peter,” embark on the seas and oceans of the world to catch men and women for the Kingdom of God. 


We all are called to be fishers of men and women, shepherds of the flock, and workers in the Lord’s vineyard.

 

Source: “365 Days with the Lord 2025,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.

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