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, telling Peter, a professional fisherman, 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, Peter cast out into the depths of Lake Gennesaret, 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, aware of the many 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 upon Christians just like the Lord did to Peter, to cast out into the deep.
If we are going to remain faithful amidst all of these worldly pressures, temptations and challenges, we must seek to be ever more deeply converted to Christ, to love him ever more deeply, to drink deeply of the Holy Spirit.
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.
Saint John Paul knew the importance of the Christian having the courage to enter the deep waters of prayer and service.
He wrote how Christians must seek to meet Christ in prayer not only in imploring his help when things aren’t going our way, but also in thanksgiving, praise, adoration, contemplation, listening and ardent devotion “until the heart truly 'falls in love'". Prayer is a deep ocean, and most of us only like to get our feet wet.
But we are called to plunge into the deep, where we don’t just speak to God, but we hear him and experience Him calling us by name. In those deep waters of prayer, we experience healing, emboldening, guidance, challenge, and union with Christ.
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. We are to put out into the depths, into the unknown, to bring in the catch of fish.
What are the deep waters for us? For many of us, no doubt, it is into the lives of family members who have left the practice of the church and to our neighbors.
And these places, it might seem foolish to our sensibilities, like Peter, the expert fisherman, being directed to cast into waters he had already fished. To those whom we have declined our invitation Church months or years ago, we do well to try again periodically. After all, you’ve been praying for them, no? God has been working in their lives, right? Maybe they weren’t ready in the past, but they might be ready, now! Your inclination might be to dismiss them, but the Lord hasn’t stopped working to open them to the way, the truth, and the life.
This week, prayerfully consider, “what are the deep waters that you are calling me to fish, Lord? Who are those fish swimming deep down in the depths, that I am being called by God to try to reach?”
In the first reading, we heard of the call of Isaiah. The Lord certainly had a job for that would have been contrary to his sensibilities: to preach to his own people that their sins were so great that there would be consequences if they did not return to God with all their heart. But he said, “Here I am Lord, send me!”
Recall, too, that it was after the hot coal had been touched to his lips that Isaiah was prepared to be sent by God to preach. God said to him, “See, now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.”
God wants to touch the hot coal of his mercy to our lips as well. Being vigilant and serious about removing sin from our lives makes us, like Isaiah, more effective in going to the places God wants to send us and speaking the words God wants us to speak. If it’s been a few months or more since the hot coal of the confessional has touched your lips…it’s time! Make a good, thorough examination of conscience and a good confession. The diocesan-wide evening of confessions returns this year on Wednesday March 19th. Most parishes in the diocese, including ours, will welcome the faithful from 5-8 pm.
The call to cast into the deep is the call to trust the Lord. Trust the Lord. He knows better than you. He knows you better than you know yourself. He knows what you are capable of with his help. No one who truly trusted the Lord was ever disappointed. Let him forgive your sins and let him send you.
The same Jesus who called Peter to the depths is calling you—calling you to deeper prayer, deeper surrender, deeper mission. You may feel unworthy, as Isaiah did. You may feel unequipped, as Peter did. You may feel like you have tried and failed before. But the Lord is not asking for your perfection—He is asking for your faith. He is asking you to trust Him enough to go where He sends you, to try again, to open your heart fully to Him. The Lord does not abandon those who trust in Him. And He will not abandon you. Put out into the deep, open wide the doors of your heart, and you will see the power of God at work in your life, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
