Bible Diary

Daily Reading

Thursday of the Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time

LECTIONARY
434

FIRST READING

1 COR 3:18-23

Brothers and sisters:
Let no one deceive himself.
If anyone among you considers himself wise in this age,
let him become a fool, so as to become wise.
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God,
for it is written:

God catches the wise in their own ruses,

and again:

The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.

So let no one boast about human beings, for everything belongs to you,
Paul or Apollos or Cephas,
or the world or life or death,
or the present or the future:
all belong to you, and you to Christ, and Christ to God.

PSALM

PS 24:1BC-2, 3-4AB, 5-6

Response: To the Lord belongs the earth and all that fills it.

The LORD’s are the earth and its fullness;
the world and those who dwell in it.
For he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.

Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD?
or who may stand in his holy place?
He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean,
who desires not what is vain.


He shall receive a blessing from the LORD,
a reward from God his savior.
Such is the race that seeks for him,
that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.

GOSPEL

LK 5:1-11

While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God,
he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret.
He saw two boats there alongside the lake;
the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets.
Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon,
he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore.
Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
“Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”
Simon said in reply,
“Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,
but at your command I will lower the nets.”
When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish
and their nets were tearing.
They signaled to their partners in the other boat
to come to help them.
They came and filled both boats
so that the boats were in danger of sinking.
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said,
“Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him
and all those with him,
and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
who were partners of Simon.
Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid;
from now on you will be catching men.”
When they brought their boats to the shore,
they left everything and followed him.

Daily Reflection

They were washing their nets when Jesus asked them for the use of their boat. Obviously, they had finished fishing for the day. When Jesus concluded his preaching from the boat, offshore, he told Simon to put out into the deep and lower his nets. Here was a carpenter telling an experienced fisherman how to fish! Simon is moved to remonstrate, ‘Master, we worked hard all night but caught nothing’. Then, amazingly, they hauled in a catch that almost broke their nets!

That was the turning point in the lives of Simon, James and John. They followed Jesus, leaving everything.

Very often, the Lord asks us to put out into the deep and let down our nets but we think we know better. After all, many of us can speak from experience and it is never easy to turn a deaf ear to ‘common sense’ or leave the security to which we have become accustomed. But if, like Peter, we can also say, ‘If you say so, I will lower the nets’, our lives will be transformed forever.