Bound in Love

This morning at Mass, the contemplative priest whose homilies resonate so deeply in my interior, preached on the Gospel of Luke chapter 5, verses 1-11.  This is a familiar story, the one about Jesus encountering Peter and James and John on the shore of the lake of Genesareth.  Peter, James and John have fished all night and caught nothing.  After preaching to the multitude gathered to listen to Him, Jesus addresses Simon specifically and tells him to ‘cast out into the deep’ (duc in altum).  Simon, being fully himself, and so like all of us, says “well, ok, but we haven’t caught anything all night, but we will cast out the net again.”  And behold, their net is abundantly full, overflowing with fish. Simon, humbles himself before the Lord and declares himself a sinful man for his unbelief, to which Jesus replies “Fear not, from now on you will be fishers of men.”

We are accustomed to thinking about, reflecting on this passage from Luke as a reminder that we are all called to be fishers of men, to be sharers of the Good News of Jesus Christ.”  But this morning the wonderful priest showed us how this Gospel passage can also be seen as a teaching on mental prayer.

Well, you know I got excited to hear a contemplative at heart preach on mental prayer!

Much of what Father said is similar to the articles on prayer I send you from Fr. Shyrock on spiritual direction.com.  It’s worth sharing again, so here goes. 

Father gave us three points from this passage to ponder on the call to mental prayer.

• Always begin mental prayer time with bringing yourself into the Presence of God.  He never moves, He is always seeking us, He never stops working.  It is we who need to stop, slow down, acknowledge at the beginning of prayer time, this is sacred time with the Lord. Bring to mind His Presence, His love, His mercy.
• Cooperate with the Lord in prayer.  This mainly means show up and be docile.
• Remember that it is the Lord who creates the movement in prayer, we just receive.

Let’s look at these three points in relation to the scripture.  First Simon/Peter is WITH Jesus and he is paying attention, he can hear Jesus’ call to cast his net again because Simon/Peter is in Jesus’ Presence.  This is a reminder to pick a time for prayer and show up every day.  Be in Jesus’ Presence.

Second, Simon is OPEN to Jesus’ instruction, even though he has some doubt, he is open and obedient.  This is to be our posture in prayer – to pray with open hands (as St Therese often talks about) – and docile hearts.  After we bring ourselves into the Presence of God, we are to cast out into the deep (duc in altum) with our Lord.  We are called to cooperate which really means just getting ourselves out of the way and being open to hearing the Lord and what He has to say to us in this space of relationship and intimacy.  By calling us to cast out into the deep, Jesus is reminding us that He has everything under control, we can trust him, He has a plan. 

Third, just as Simon/Peter, James and John do nothing different with their nets than they did earlier when they caught nothing, this time because of Jesus’ movement, their nets are FULL and overflowing.  Their catch is abundant!  So, with us in prayer, it is Jesus who is the first mover, we put ourselves in His Presence and let Him fill us abundantly with His infinite love and mercy.  He moves; we sit still.  We RECEIVE.  Psalm 46:10 is a good reminder: “Be still and know that I am God.”  Our response is to let Him move in our souls, in our interior where we like to hide, but where Jesus wants to be with us, to love us, to heal us, to fill us with an immensity that will flow out into the world.  Mary our mother is the perfect example of this docility and fullness of love: “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to Your word.” (Luke 1:38)

St Therese famously said, “At last I have found my vocation.  In the heart of the Church I will be love!”  She was docile and she was filled with God’s love, and it flowed into the sisters around her.  And now as a Saint in Heaven, her love of God is experienced through many miracles and answered prayers through her intercession.  In the same way, we are called to be little and childlike and to do as St Elisabeth of the Trinity said, “Let yourself be loved.”  God is loving us all of the time infinitely, we just forget this more often than not.

St Peter, in his encounter with Jesus on the shores of the lake of Genesareth, was in Jesus’ Presence, open and docile, and let Jesus work in him, and his net overflowed.  This is how the door to abundant life in Christ swings wide open and our relationship with Him develops.  Be WITH the Lord, be OPEN to his movements, RECEIVE his Love!

Have a beautiful Sunday!