The obstacle of a failure

On other occasions you will find yourselves empty-handed. That will be the time to go back to the beginning and hear once again like Simon Peter the command of Christ: “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish; and their nets were breaking. They signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:4-8).

A return to feeling Christ’s call

Mindful of the wretchedness we are made of, recalling the failures brought about by our pride, and faced with the majesty of God – of Christ the fisherman – we have to say, as Peter did, “Lord, I am a sinner.” And then Christ repeats to you and to me, as to the Apostle on that occasion, what he told us when he first caught us in his net and called us: ex hoc iam homines eris capiens (Luke 5:10); from now on you will be a fisher of men: with a divine mandate, with a divine mission, with divine effectiveness.