In today's gospel, I would like to share three elements that can help us deepen our relationship with God: Collaboration, trust, and Discipleship.
In the gospel, Jesus is preaching the Word of God to people, and he is standing by the Lake. In order for him to have a space so that his preaching may reach the crowd, He needs to get into the boat, and that boat belongs to Simon. Jesus needs the boat of Simon so that he can preach to the crowd. Today, Jesus is also asking us to collaborate with him in our daily lives. Jesus asks for our collaboration in what we do here and now and to participate in his mission like Simon. As Christians, we are asked to collaborate with Jesus and with each other in our mission as much as we can.
Second, we are called to trust in the Lord. We know in the gospel that Simon was a fisherman who knew how to catch fish, and he might be an expert in catching fish because he had been doing this for a long time. However, when Jesus asked him to "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." The example of Simon teaches us that we need to put trust in God even when we don't understand what the Lord tells us. Nowadays, although science has developed a lot, there are still several things that science cannot explain or prove. For instance, science cannot explain what we call "Miracles," and this requires Faith in God. In our lives, we encounter many problems and difficult events, and we want to solve or fix all of them. However, some problems seem impossible to solve, and this sometimes gives us despair. Despite this, there is a moment when we realize that there is Someone who is beyond all the problems we pass through. That Person is God, who always abides with us. On our part, we are to keep Faith in God by trusting and hoping in Him. Then, like Simon, each of us can say to God, "We have put in a lot of effort and haven't got anything, but I will try again because I believe and trust in you."
Last is the life of discipleship: Though He is God, Jesus lowered himself in order to save us, his people. In his salvific ministry, he chose to join people in their daily work. In today's gospel, he joined the fishermen who had lost hope in catching fish. Though they doubted it, they followed Jesus' command and caught a great number of fish, which was beyond their understanding. They were even afraid of what had just happened. Seeing this miracle, Simon recognized Jesus as the Holy One and saw himself as a sinner. Thus, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, "Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man." Jesus tranquilized them and made them fishers of men, "from now on, you will be catching men." They are now sent as disciples to bring people to Jesus. The disciples know that they will carry this mission as sinners, but they believe in Jesus, the Holy One, who will remain with them. In his journey with Jesus, Simon was able to transform his life from a sinner and fisherman to a disciple and a great saint. We are also called to follow Jesus even though we are sinful. We are only asked to let Jesus journey with us and help us to grow in holiness. By pondering the gospel of this Sunday, we are also called to be true Jesus' disciples, to journey with him, and to let him help us transform our lives. We want to be good children of God and faithful disciples. In order to follow God's calling, we are asked to collaborate with Him by spending time with Him and listening to his voice in our daily lives. In addition, the most precious thing is to have Faith in him by trusting and hoping totally in Him. Have a blessed Sunday
