Thursday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
September 1, 2022
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, our readings lead us to consider our call.
The call to discipleship comes to us within the other calls of our life: the call to be a good parent, spouse, sibling, child. It comes in the call to be a moral, values-driven employer; an honest, hard-working employee; a supportive, engaged co-worker. Christ asks us to mirror him as neighbor, friend, colleague, and citizen.
In whatever skill or profession we practice, Christ asks us to exercise it as he would – to choose, judge and behave as he would.
In our Gospel, the first disciples are astonished at the miracle of the fishes. Like a lightening bolt, that astonishment transforms their world view. They now see Christ as the Center of their lives. They drop their nets on the seashore. They leave everything to follow him.
What is it that we must leave to make Christ the center of our lives? What nets are we caught in that keep us from freeing the call within us?
We are challenged by a world filled with the entanglements of greed, destructive power, aggression, bigotry, lies, and political & social pretense. How much have these infected the purity of our desire to follow Jesus?
Poetry: On St. Peter Casting Away His Nets at Our Saviour’s Call – Richard Crashaw
Thou hast the art on't Peter; and canst tell
To cast thy Nets on all occasions well.
When Christ calls, and thy Nets would have thee stay:
To cast them well's to cast them quite away.
Music: Lord, You Have Come to the Seashore- Caesareo Gabarain
Lord, You have come to the seashore
Neither searching for…the rich nor the wise,…
desiring only…that I should follow
Refrain:
O Lord, with your eyes set upon me,
gently smiling, you have spoken my name;
all I longed for I have found by the water.
At your side, I will seek other shores.
Lord, see my goods, my possessions;
in my boat you find…no power, no wealth…
Will you accept then…my nets and labor?
Lord,…take my hands and direct them
Help me spend myself in seeking the lost,…
returning love for…the love you gave me.
Lord,…as I drift on the waters…
be the resting place…of my restless heart,…
my life’s companion,…my friend and refuge.
Lavish Mercy 