Catholic Daily Mass Reading & Meditation for Thursday, 4 September 2014

Catholic Daily Mass Reading & Meditation for Thursday, 4 September 2014
Meditations: Luke 5: Push Out into Deep Water
1-3 Once when he was standing on the shore of Lake Gennesaret, the crowd was pushing in on him to better hear the Word of God. He noticed two boats tied up. The fishermen had just left them and were out scrubbing their nets. He climbed into the boat that was Simon’s and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Sitting there, using the boat for a pulpit, he taught the crowd.
4 When he finished teaching, he said to Simon, “Push out into deep water and let your nets out for a catch.”
5-7 Simon said, “Master, we’ve been fishing hard all night and haven’t caught even a minnow. But if you say so, I’ll let out the nets.” It was no sooner said than done—a huge haul of fish, straining the nets past capacity. They waved to their partners in the other boat to come help them. They filled both boats, nearly swamping them with the catch.
8-10 Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell to his knees before Jesus. “Master, leave. I’m a sinner and can’t handle this holiness. Leave me to myself.” When they pulled in that catch of fish, awe overwhelmed Simon and everyone with him. It was the same with James and John, Zebedee’s sons, coworkers with Simon.
10-11 Jesus said to Simon, “There is nothing to fear. From now on you’ll be fishing for men and women.” They pulled their boats up on the beach, left them, nets and all, and followed him.
22nd Week in Ordinary Time
Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch. (Luke 5:4 )
If you’ve ever seen a motorboat on a lake, you know that it is rarely sitting still. Usually it is powering over the water at high speed or moving adeptly to give a water skier a good ride.
When you’re driving a motorboat, your goal is usually to cover a lot of space. When it comes to receiving revelation from God, however, your goal is the exact opposite. Jesus doesn’t want you to skim the surface quickly; he wants you to drop anchor. There is no rush to get to the other side of the lake. Just sit quietly, ready to receive whatever he wants to give you.
When Jesus told Peter to lower his net into the deep water, Peter had to make a decision. Would he give up and go home? Or would he go back out and wait some more? Because he followed Jesus’ words, he was able to pull in a tremendous catch. But he received an even greater blessing: he saw that Jesus was no ordinary man. He saw a holy man whose word had power. He saw a man worth following, someone who could make him fruitful spiritually and not just materially. Peter cast his net into the deep waters of God’s love, and he was rewarded far beyond his expectations.
How can you cast your net into deep water? There are times when Jesus will ask you to stay with him a little longer so that he can give you a taste of his love, his power, or his truth. He may ask you to take a second, third, or fourth look at a Scripture passage from Sunday Mass. Rather than rushing off, stop and linger. You may end up spending a whole week on one single verse! But that’s okay. Just imitate Peter, sitting quietly in his boat, waiting for a miracle.
Cast your net deeper because your Savior has a glorious catch waiting for you. Just push past the objections and do it. Knowing Jesus, hearing his voice, receiving his life—these are the blessings that await everyone who puts out into deep water!
“Thank you, Lord, for inviting me to linger in your presence. Help me to cast my net deep so that I don’t miss a single gift you have for me.” Amen!
1 Corinthians 3:18-20 Don’t fool yourself. Don’t think that you can be wise merely by being up-to-date with the times. Be God’s fool—that’s the path to true wisdom. What the world calls smart, God calls stupid. It’s written in Scripture,
He exposes the chicanery of the chic.
The Master sees through the smoke screens
    of the know-it-alls.
21-23 I don’t want to hear any of you bragging about yourself or anyone else. Everything is already yours as a gift—Paul, Apollos, Peter, the world, life, death, the present, the future—all of it is yours, and you are privileged to be in union with Christ, who is in union with God.
Psalm 24: A David Psalm
1-2 God claims Earth and everything in it,
    God claims World and all who live on it.
He built it on Ocean foundations,
    laid it out on River girders.
3-4 Who can climb Mount God?
    Who can scale the holy north-face?
Only the clean-handed,
    only the pure-hearted;
Men who won’t cheat,
    women who won’t seduce.
5-6 God is at their side;
    with God’s help they make it.
This, Jacob, is what happens
    to God-seekers, God-questers.
____________________________