209. Fifth Tuesday of Ordinary Time
Meditations no. 86 (unofficial computer-aided translation)
Peter and the other Apostles toiled all night on their own and caught nothing.
After stepping into Peterâs boat, our Lord told him to launch out into the deep water once more, and lower the nets. Peter replied: Master, we toiled all night and took nothing. By those words, the Apostles acknowledge their helplessness. Though they had worked all night they hadnât caught a single fish. So it is with you and me. We are poor, proud men. When we want to work alone, doing our own will, guided by our own judgement, the only fruit we gather is unfruitfulness.
It would be useless for us to spend our whole life trying to do good, if we did not count on our Lordâs help. Even our best work would be barren and worthless if it were not accompanied by the desire to do Godâs will. God does not need our efforts but our obedience, says St John Chrysostom. We understand our Father very well when he says: If you donât give up your own will, if you are proud, if your self-giving isnât complete, if you do your own apostolate, you will work all night - your whole life will be one long night - only for day to dawn and find your nets still empty.
But Peter submitted his own judgement and obeyed Christâs command. And the results of his docility were overwhelming: They enclosed a great shoal of fish; and as their nets were breaking, they beckoned 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. Humility and obedience combined to fill the nets to overflowing.
To be effective as apostles, we must be closely united to Christ: obedience.
Christ was in the boat, and told the disciples to cast out their nets once more. Peter obeyed; he trusted in the word of Christ; and at the Lordâs command he prepared to do exactly the same as he had been doing all night. But now there was a new spirit, an enthusiasm that wasnât there before. Now Peter was with our Lord; Jesus was in the boat with him. Peter was no longer working by himself and for himself. It was God who was working through a docile instrument. Peter no longer relied on his own skill and strength. He relied on the Masterâs word: in verbo autem tuo laxabo rete; at your word, I will lower the net.
Confident that he was now working for Christ, Peter lowered the net anew, and they caught piscium multitudinem copiosam, a great number of fish. Believe me, this miracle is repeated daily.
We should relive this Gospel scene, and ask ourselves whether we are closely united to Christ in our apostolic work, through obedience to the Directors. Perhaps we will sometimes have to admit: I have been silly and foolish. I have done what I could, but I have been wasting my time. Praeceptor, per totam noctem laborantes nihil cepimus. (Master, we toiled all night and took nothing!) If we have been working on our own account, as we see some people doing outside the unity of the Church, what results can we expect from our apostolate? Working on our own account, we havenât been able to do anything. But letâs go on listening: in verbo tuo laxabo rete. In Godâs name I will lower the net. What a beautiful way to redirect an entire life, when, for whatever reason, we have tried to carry out an apostolate on our own account.
If we work with a right intention, seeking Godâs glory alone, in close union with Jesus Christ, we wonât have to wait long for our apostolate to show results. You can do great good or great harm. You will do great good if you are humble and give yourself joyfully with a spirit of sacrifice. You will do great good for yourself and for your brothers, for the Church and for our good Mother, the Work. But you will do great harm if you let your pride get the better of you. Then you will have to say: nihil cepimus (we took nothing). I have not accomplished anything in the black of night.
In verbo autem tuo laxabo rete: in your name, because it is what you want. Tell him this, my child: that you are going to work for Christ. The results will be marvellous.
Examining how we obey in our apostolic work.
And Jesus said to Simon, âDo not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men.â And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. When we hear Christâs voice reaching us through our Directors, we should leave everything -our comfort, our personal plans, our false prudence -and work apostolically as we are asked. Only in this way will our nets be filled with souls for Christ.
We should frequently examine our conscience on the way we obey in our apostolate and proselytism. It could happen that, when there doesnât seem to be very much fruit, we start blaming the environment, or the temperament and character of the people we are trying to bring to Christ. But we know that there is no obstacle we cannot overcome in our apostolic undertakings. It is a question of following the specific advice we are given; and to do that, we need to make sure we understand exactly what we are being asked to do. As our Father once said in a meditation: In order to obey you must listen to what youâre told. If you only knew how painful it is to have to command good people who donât know how to obey! Wonderful people, perhaps very holy, but the moment comes to obey⌠and they donât! Why donât they? Because some people seem to be almost physically incapable of listening. They have such good will that while they are listening they are thinking of another way to do things, of how to disobey. No, my sons, explain the contrary possibilities, if there are any; say things clearly, and afterwards obey, being ready to follow wholeheartedly a course of action you yourself disagree with.
We see this in the Gospel passage we have been considering over the last few days. The nets are made ready once more. The Apostles, following our Lordâs instructions, and placing themselves under the orders of Peter, cast the nets once again into the depths of the lake. But this time, when they draw in the nets, they find that they are so full that they almost cause the boat to capsize. The sea becomes alive with fish, and other boats have to come and help haul in the vast quantity. Do you understand? If you admit your nothingness and your ineffectiveness, and instead of trusting your own opinion you let yourself be led, then not only will you be marvellously fruitful, but others will also reap abundantly from your abundance.
The fish leap in the nets, shimmering in the early morning sun; they are the fruit of obedience. And Christâs Apostles, who had worked all night in vain, took in piscium multitudinem copiosam, a great quantity of fish.
We finish our prayer by resolving to obey in our apostolate with greater love, with greater faith, and with greater hope. Only then will we be truly effective. This is the advice of Mary, Queen of Apostles: Do whatever he tells you.