April 14, 2013 Cycle C
In many ways, the dramatic story played out in today’s Gospel is a story of our own lives. It is a story of recognizing Jesus on the shoreline of our lives, plunging into life, and following Christ wherever he may lead.
If you listen carefully to the Gospel, you can almost hear a long sigh of relief just before Peter says to the other disciples, “I am going fishing,” and fish he did. He returned to what he knew best. He returned after the stunning effects of an awful week in Jerusalem, which was 75 miles away from the Lake of Galilee. This location was a place of familiarity for him and for his fellow apostles. It was here that Jesus called them to follow him. It was here that they walked away from their family and livelihood to begin a new mission. It was here that Jesus walked on the water and woke up to quiet a storm and the miracle overwhelmed them. It was here on the land near the shore that Christ fed 5,000 people with five loaves and a few fish. The drama continued.
The drama continues as well in our own day, for we heard, last month once the white smoke cleared, the words “habemus papam.” With the announcement of Pope Francis, it appears a new dawn has arisen in our own Church as we celebrate the beginning of this ministry of the new Bishop of Rome, the successor of Peter. We take courage then to note how Peter, the apostle, was inspired to leap into the waters and swim, splash and wade to shore. It was love that yanked Peter out of the boat that morning. It was love calling to love, love in the heart of Jesus, calling out to love in the heart of this most impetuous man, Simon Peter. It is the same love that called the Archbishop of Buenos Aires to take on the mantle of leadership as a successor to Peter.
As we come together and see the image of the net being cast out in a spirit of evangelization, we are reminded that we, too, in this age, still must cast out the net to welcome and to offer hospitality to those who are spiritual seekers. Because we know that the Source of love is standing always on the shores of our lives, inviting us, calling us to take the plunge into the love that God offers us.
The enthusiastic response that Pope Francis has received internationally has been evident in the news media and various articles. But we do not need to be reminded that there is still much work to be done in the ministry of following in the path of the apostles of old. The nets still need to be cast. Why do I say that? Because recent statistics have revealed that we are pretty good at attracting new people but not so good at keeping those we already have. The statistics reported tell us this: 1 in 40 American adults is a Catholic convert but 1 in 10 Americans is a Catholic “deconvert”, that is, was brought up Catholic but now no longer self-identifies as such.
To put those figures in some kind of bigger perspective, American Catholic parishes, schools, colleges, mission groups, television stations, and families have together reeled in almost six million new Catholic converts. This is an impressive catch by any fisher of men’s standards. And yet, at exactly that same time, those who got away number over 23 million. We read elsewhere in the scriptures about how the apostles knew that broken nets lose more fish than they bring in. So our new Holy Father might point to the example of those early apostles who mended their nets before heeding Christ’s call to become fishers of men (MT 4:21-22). Unfortunately, that is more easily said than done.
There is a genuine crisis of transmission and retention for we have the challenge to continue to reinvite many back to our community. The research that has been done regarding the transmission of the faith hints that religious practices in the home—or lack of them—might well be one key influence on regaining our cradle Catholics. If that is so, then our new Holy Father might truthfully lay greater stress on the family, that is, the Domestic Church, as both the object and the agent of the New Evangelization. However, ultimately, responsibility for the Church’s mission rests not with the Bishop of Rome, but as we know, collectively, with us all. The most the Pope can really do through teaching and example is guide and inspire. Our prayer is that our new Holy Father will be effective in that ministry, too.
Pope Francis has stepped out at the age of 76 when he was ready to retire, but we are reminded that Love calls us sometimes to do what we do not want to do, go where we do not want to go. Life forces us to stretch out our hands and be led where we may not want to go. Love makes it possible for us to go there. Love enables us to make the sacrifices which adult life demands of each one of us. And as I have said, the source of that love, Jesus Christ, is ever standing on the shore of our lives, inviting us forward to take the plunge into the love that God has offered us. Amen. Amen. Msgr. Tom Adrians