Word to the Wise
Thursday, September 1, 2016 - Thursday in the 22th Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Cor 3:18-23 and Luke 5:1-11]"Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch." [Luke]
With these words, Jesus intended to reward Peter for the use of his boat as a pulpit. (From my standpoint, it's a good thing he sat down to teach, even if it was the normal thing for a teacher.) The reward was a huge catch of fish, but the result was also the "conversion" of Peter and the sons of Zebedee. It is this willingness to "put out into deep water," despite skepticism about the possibilities that marks this incident in a different way. Pope St. John Paul II wrote an encyclical on the "New Evangelization" under the title, DUC IN ALTUM, which captures the meaning of those words. It challenges all of us to reach out to others in faith, especially Catholics who no longer practice their faith. Surveys show that if all the "former Catholics" in the USA were put together, they would form the second largest Christian denomination in this country after those who do practice their Catholic faith!
However, there is an additional challenge that is worth considering. I think a good majority of Catholics have strong faith but do not go deeply into the richness of Catholic belief and tradition. Mass on Sunday, sacraments and a favorite devotion or two (rosary) suffices for many. I do not criticize this; I simply extend the same invitation that Jesus' gave to Peter and companions, "Put out into deep water." When I went to the Dominican novitiate in 1964 right out of college, my faith was strong but not terribly deep. It was through reading the Bible cover to cover during that long year in a Minnesota winter that I came to realize that I was moving deeper than I was ever accustomed to.
Not everyone can spend years in philosphical or theological studies, but there are all kinds of helps available if we can give even ten minutes a way to "studying" our faith. Those deep waters have great catches and the rewards are more than worth the effort. AMEN
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