When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish
and their nets were tearing.

My brothers and sisters,

We are those fish. We are the people taken up in the nets of the Holy Church, the nets that pull us toward salvation.

While we’re sitting here in the nets, let’s consider what might happen to us.

Many are content to sit in the nets of the Church. They are protected, fed by the Church, and as long as they do not fight against the nets, they are drawn inexorably closer to the heavenly kingdom. They are models of content cooperation.

While that’s not a terribly bad way to live, it is a little passive.

Transformation occurs when the fish become the fishermen.

Each of today’s readings and the Gospel speak of the apprehension and the issues encountered before such a momentous transformation takes place.

Listen to Isaiah’s lament:

Then I said, —Woe is me, I am doomed!
For I am a man of unclean lips,
living among a people of unclean lips;
yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!—

Isaiah stood before the throne of God knowing that he was to be sent. Isaiah was to prophesy before Israel, encouraging them to follow in the way of God.

God asked from the throne:

—Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?—

To which Isaiah replied:

—Here I am,— I said; —send me!—

Isaiah started out in fear and trembling, and ended up affirming his willingness to take on the job God required.

Like some of us, Isaiah started out as fearful fish caught up in God’s net. He left the net to do God’s work and bring his people back.

Paul recognized his sinfulness in light of the hope and glory of salvation in Jesus Christ.

Paul says:

Last of all, as to one born abnormally,
He appeared to me.
For I am the least of the apostles,
not fit to be called an apostle,
because I persecuted the church of God.

…and he too affirms

But by the grace of God I am what I am,
and His grace to me has not been ineffective.

Paul, like many of the fish in the net, felt unworthy.

But Paul was born into new life in Christ. He recognized the most important thing. He could not do anything by himself. His preaching would be worthless, his message would fall like a stone, all except for the fact that he was reborn, regenerated in the Holy Spirit.

Like a fish, caught up in self loathing, Paul could have stayed down. But because he had faith, and because he saw what the Lord had accomplished, he was able to say:

Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them;
not I, however, but the grace of God that is with me.

Paul was transformed from fish to fisherman by the grace of God. That grace is within all of us, calling us to be fishers of men.

Jesus put a very fine point on the whole matter.

The Apostles worked all night. They were exhausted. They, and their business partners, needed to get the nets clean and ready. They needed to get home, eat, rest, and prepare for the next day.

Along comes Jesus:

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.

Can you imagine Peter’s thoughts? Maybe Peter was being polite, but inside he may have been aggravated. There’s this guy standing in my boat preaching and I need to get home. Jesus was like the guest who wouldn’t leave.

Then Jesus turns around and says:

—Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.—

Ummmm, yup, ok… Peter must have been flabbergasted.

But the Holy Spirit was at work. Peter replies:

—Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,
but at your command I will lower the nets.—

We know the rest, a huge draught of fish, almost too much for two boats.

Do you think Peter understood?

I think he understood very well, and tried one last time to stay with the fish.

—Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.—

I’m not worthy, like Paul, like Isaiah, I’m not worthy.

To which Jesus replied:

—Do not be afraid;
from now on you will be catching men.—

That’s our mission. We are to transform ourselves from faithful fish, being pulled along in the nets of the Church, to faithful fishers of men.

We are to be the priests, the deacons, the evangelists, the public witnesses to all that Jesus said and did. We are to fill the nets of the Church. Only we, inspired by the Holy Spirit, can do it.