Fr. JC Maximilian

How many of you have ever been to Niagara Falls? It is a pretty awesome sight. Recently I heard a story about a great circus performer named Blondin who stretched a long steel cable across Niagara Falls. As is typical, there were strong winds at the Falls, and without a safety net, Blondin amazed the crowd of spectators by walking, running, even dancing across the tightrope. He even took a wheelbarrow full of bricks and pushed it across the cable from one side of the Falls to the other. Then the great Blondin asked the crowd, “How many of you believe that I could push a person across the wire in the wheelbarrow?” Everyone cheered and raised their hands high because all of them believed that he could do it. “Then,” asked Blondin, “would one of you please volunteer to be that person?” As quickly as the hands went up, they went back down. Not a single person would volunteer to ride in the wheelbarrow and to trust his life to Blondin (from “Hot Illustrations”, copyright 2001 Youth Specialties, Inc.).

Each one of us here today believe in Jesus Christ. That’s why we came to Mass, but how much have we put that faith into practice? How often are we content to sit in the boat with Jesus and listen to His teachings and feel the comfort of His presence, but when He asks something of us, when He pushes us to leave our comfort zone, we resist? Jesus’ love and mercy is great, but we do not want the Cross, the real change of heart.

In this weekend’s readings we have wonderful examples of discipleship. In our first reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah we hear about his call to be a prophet. Isaiah was praying in the Temple, something he had done many times before, when God graced him with a vision of Heaven. After seeing the magnificence of the Lord sitting on His throne in Heaven, surrounded by the angels, Isaiah is humbled, and recognizes his own sinfulness and unworthiness. However, his call to be a prophet for the Most High is not determined by his abilities, power or self-worth. Rather it is determined by God’s summons. He recognizes that God is the deepest longing of his heart, the only source for true and everlasting happiness, so even without knowing all that the Lord will ask of him he says, “Here I am, send me!”

St. Paul, likewise, in today’s second reading, is humble and says, “For I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am.”

Finally, in today’s Gospel we hear about the call of the first Apostles. Jesus was not a stranger to Peter. Earlier in St. Luke’s Gospel, some of the miracles of Jesus are described, including the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law. It is because of this familiarity with Jesus, that Peter is willing to take Jesus just off the shore so that He might preach without being pressed in by the crowd. Imagine Peter’s reaction when Jesus asks him to “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” Peter, James and John are the professional fisherman, while Jesus is trained as a carpenter. Fishermen know that the best time to catch fish is at night, not during the day, and Peter, James and John had been hard at it all night and caught nothing. They were tired and disappointed. Why does Peter do what Jesus asks him to do? Peter doesn’t obey because he understands; he doesn’t obey because he can figure it out. He obeys only for one reason: because Christ is the one issuing the command: “Master… at your command I will lower the nets.” Jesus knocks Peter out of his “comfort zone,” and Peter steps into Christ’s comfort zone. Peter recognizes, without fully understanding, the Divine in Jesus; that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and he obeys Jesus. St. John Chrysostom teaches, “God does not need our work, but He does need our obedience” (Homilies on St. Matthew’s Gospel, #56). In reward for his humility and obedience, Peter catches a great number of fish. In this wonderful, natural event, Peter sees the supernatural working. He sees the catch as a gift from God, and like Isaiah, recognizing that he is in the presence of God’s love, Peter acknowledges his sinfulness and unworthiness. And Jesus calls him.

“The awareness of God’s holiness and of our condition as sinners does not separate men from God, but rather brings men closer to him. Moreover, once a man has been converted, he declares his faith openly and becomes an apostle. He feels that God’s intentions are now within his reach, and they become lovable to him. His life then takes on its deepest meaning and value” (Pope John Paul II, Homily, February 6, 1983).

God is also calling us to step out of our comfort zone. Jesus is asking us to put out into deep water. As baptized Christians, we all share in the mission that Jesus gives Peter of being “fishers of men.”

Our comfort zone is made of three main sectors. First we need to look at our relationship with God. Maybe in the back of your mind you have thought that you should pray more or better. Maybe God has been nudging you to come to the Sacrament of Penance, and you have been ignoring Him. There are things we can all do to learn more about our faith, but so often we resist because “we don’t have the time.”

Another sector of our comfort zone is our own character and inner integrity. What is the area of our life that God is asking us to exercise more discipline over? Is there a hidden habit of dishonesty or self-indulgence we need to leave behind?

Finally there is the sector of our relationships with other people. Maybe we need to forgive someone, or need to ask forgiveness from someone. Maybe we need to get out of a bad relationship that is dragging us down and away from Christ. Maybe we have been neglecting a relationship. If we truly love our neighbors, then we will want them to come closer to Jesus since He is the only source of eternal life. Yet too often we fail to witness to Christ because it makes us feel uncomfortable. We do not want to leave our comfort zone. However, there can be no greater joy than bringing others to Jesus.

It surely made St. Peter uncomfortable, as a professional fisherman, to row back out into deep water in broad daylight, but he did it because he trusted Jesus, and our Lord asked him to, and his nets with filled to overflowing.

We say we believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We must put that faith into practice. Jesus is asking us to “put out into deep water.” It may make us uncomfortable, but don’t settle for mediocre happiness. Leave everything and follow Christ. Say, “Here I am Lord, send me!”