“We follow Christ together.
True discipleship is a group activity.”
Communal Casting Into the Deep
September 3, 2020
The gospel of Luke’s call of Simon Peter is distinct from that of the other gospels. It stresses that this call to discipleship cannot be done alone. It calls us to work towards a sense of group accomplishment. It asks us to commit to community achievement.
Our modern culture too often nurtures an ego of individual genius rather than commitment to the efforts and triumphs of a larger group, an entire population or even the whole world. People will work very hard to get a college degree, learn a skill or create a piece of art. But the kind of constant personal involvement to larger projects, such as taking care of the environment, working towards a social balance that reflects true justice, or simply calling ourselves to stay faithful to the types of behaviors that can help the larger group be safer in the midst of the pandemic don’t seem to hold our attention as easily.
We live in a culture that values personal victory over community benefit. We live life on a single spectrum that measures behavior as safe or risky. We never think about our ability to risk more when we have created a safety net of community. When our community or society becomes the place of competition and mutual derision, we no longer have the security necessary to risk the struggles that could actually improve the larger world.
Too often, even in our own church we approach vocation as a radically individual event. How different would our experience of faith be if we never heard the phrase, “Come and follow me“ as an individual call, but always something voiced to the entire community. And what if we heard that voice always calling us to be part of that communal vocation.
The song “Take Up Our Cross” is so fitting with this theme. As you listen to the words, notice that it is “our” cross that “we” are called to bear throughout this piece.
God Bless and be well,
Fr. Pat
.
In this same vein, as an accompanying song I went scavenging through my own archives to find a favorite piece that I used to sing fairly often. Not really a church composition, per se, it is a song by Stephen Schwartz about being open and prepared enough to recognize when something amazing comes along and being ready take a chance, make the change necessary and embrace the unimagined possibilities of a greater, joy-filled life.
I hope you are all continuing to be well and to actively and intentionally hunt the good moments and savor them when you can.
God Bless,
Fr. Pat
Thursday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
Gospel | Luke 5:1-11
While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God,
he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret.
He saw two boats there alongside the lake;
the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets.
Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon,
he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore.
Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
“Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”
Simon said in reply,
“Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,
but at your command I will lower the nets.”
When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish
and their nets were tearing.
They signaled to their partners in the other boat
to come to help them.
They came and filled both boats
so that the boats were in danger of sinking.
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said,
“Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him
and all those with him,
and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
who were partners of Simon.
Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid;
from now on you will be catching men.”
When they brought their boats to the shore,
they left everything and followed him.
he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret.
He saw two boats there alongside the lake;
the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets.
Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon,
he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore.
Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
“Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”
Simon said in reply,
“Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,
but at your command I will lower the nets.”
When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish
and their nets were tearing.
They signaled to their partners in the other boat
to come to help them.
They came and filled both boats
so that the boats were in danger of sinking.
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said,
“Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him
and all those with him,
and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
who were partners of Simon.
Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid;
from now on you will be catching men.”
When they brought their boats to the shore,
they left everything and followed him.
Take Up Our Cross by Curtis Stephan, Sarah Hart and Marc Boyd
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