Search
-
Thursday of the 22nd Week in Ordinary Time - September 5, 2013
Col 1:9-14; Luke 5:1-11
In the first reading St Paul gives us a model of prayer, how we should pray and for what.
He begins by asking for “wisdom and understanding” to know God’s will and to follow it. Then he asks for the power/grace “for all endurance and patience” to see us through those challenges and difficulties and spiritually dry times we all experience. But it is not enough to just endure, we have to do it with joy and thanksgiving, knowing that everything God sends us is for our own good. Our challenges only strengthen our faith if we persevere. It is all meant to win our redemption and forgiveness of our sins and to bring us out of the darkness of this world and into the light of our heavenly life.
If we are lucky we may even experience the revelation that Peter receives in the gospel. Peter realizes that he is in the presence of God. He could have looked at those two boat loads of fish and “let’s do this again tomorrow”. Instead he realizes that he is in the presence of something much more powerful than anything in this world.
How would we react in this situation, if we looked around at the beauty of God’s creation and saw God’s majesty, if we looked at the people around us and saw Christ in them, if we realized that we are in the presence of God in the Eucharist? This is what Mother Teresa of Calcutta did. She looked at the poor and the suffering and saw Jesus in them. This is what gave her the strength and power to do what she did and to get through those dark and spiritually dry moments we all have.
What would we say to God, what would he say to us? Probably the same thing He said to Peter: “do not be afraid”, come follow me.
God Bless,