Homily: 22nd Week of Ordinary Time - Thursday - "Put out into the Deep"

When the new millennium began, Pope John Paul II wrote a letter to the Church and used the words of Jesus to Peter from today’s Gospel.  In latin, they are “duc in altum”—“put out into the deep”. 

You might imagine Peter’s confusion or perhaps rolling his eyes and muttering under his breath, when Jesus, a carpenter, spoke those words to him, a professional fisherman, telling him how to do his job.  Peter and his crew had just fished all night and had just finished cleaning all of their equipment when Jesus instructed Peter to cast his net into deep waters. 

Even though it contradicted his professional sensibilities, trusting his master, he cast out into the depths of Lake Genesseret, and catching so many fish, they had to call for another boat to bring them all in. 

In his uncertainty, he placed his deep trust in the Lord, and that made all the difference.  Pope John Paul II, knowing all of the challenges the Church faced at the turn of the millennium, failing economies, impending wars, a culture becoming bent on instant gratification and materialism, he called us to, just like the Lord did to Peter, to cast out into the deep.  The Holy Father wrote how each individual Christian needed to go deeper in his or her spiritual life. 

He had offered the same message when in Saint Peter’s square in 1978 in the opening address of his pontificate, he said, “Do not be afraid to Open wide the doors of your heart for Christ.”  Cast out into the deep, open wide the doors.  For if we don’t, not only are we at risk of being mediocre Christians, but our very souls are at risk.  For, the key to withstanding the overwhelming barrage of temptations and distractions of the world, the key to avoid assimilated to the culture, and the key to becoming an effective instrument for the spread of the Gospel is to cast into the deep and open wide the door of your heart to Christ.  

In one sense, to put out into the deep, means to be extremely generous in the time we give to God in prayer. 

In that same letter, the Holy Father wrote how our parishes and families must become “genuine 'schools' of prayer” where we meet Christ in prayer not only in imploring his help but also in thanksgiving, praise, adoration, contemplation, listening and ardent devotion “until the heart truly 'falls in love'". 

If we are only praying when we want something, if we only treat God like he’s Santa Clause, then we will never really fall in love with Jesus.  Rather, the Holy Father calls us to a deeper prayer life: time set aside every day for adoration and contemplation and listening.

In another sense, those words, “put out into the deep” is a call to every Christian, no matter what their state in life, to take up the missionary mandate of the Church: to reach out to those who do not have faith, to reach out to the poor and suffering, and to not be afraid to witness to the truth of the Gospel in the public sphere and the political realm.  Just like Peter casting out into deep waters to bring in this miraculous catch of fish, we too can make a miraculous catch, when we cooperate with Jesus. 

What are the deep waters for us?  Into the lives of the family members who have left the practice of the church, into the public sphere of our culture and the political life of our culture which wants to remove every last vestige of the Christian faith.   Into those places where fishing might seem initially foolish to our sensibilities.