Qua bài tin mừng hôm nay, chúng ta thấy Phêrô và các bạn cùng thuyền đánh cá của ông đã có được những kinh nghiệm và sự ngạc nhiên tuyệt vời khi nghe lời Chúa Giêsu và thả lưới để bắt cá một lần nữa, sau khi vất vả với lưới chài suốt đêm mệt mỏi, mà họ đã không đánh bắt được con cá nào. Nhưng vì đức vâng lời và lòng tin, họ nghe lời Chúa các ông đã chiến thắng với mẻ lưới đầy cá, nhưng sự chiến thắng này không phải là do nổ lực của các ông mà do Chính Chúa Giêsu. Các ông đã được mẻ cá lớn vì các ông đã biết vâng lời và thực hiện theo sự chỉ dẫn và sự hướng dẫn của Chúa.
Cũng giống như Phêrô và các bạn đánh cá của ông, chúng ta thường hay bất mãn và chán nản mỗi khi chúng ta thất bại sau những cố gắng, những nỗ lực, và tài nguyên của chúng ta để đạt được tới một mục tiêu mà chúng ta đã đưa ra. Có lẽ chúng ta đã tự mình, tự hào để cố gắng quá hết sức, để làm điều đó một mình một cách tự cao, tự đại. Cái tôi, cái tự ái, và sự yếu đuối của chúng ta đã làm cản trở sự thành công của chúng ta. Thêm một lần nữa, chúng ta nên cố gắng thực hiện những nỗ lực này trong sự cố gắng, trong sự vâng phục, và sự hợp tác với Chúa Giêsu thì có lẽ chúng ta sẽ bắt nắm được trong tay một nắm bắt tuyệt vời! Chúa Giêsu không mấy quan tâm đến những bối rối và những sự yếu đuối và bất xứng của Phêrô và cũng như sự bất xứng và yếu đuối của chúng ta. Một lần nữa, cuộc hành trình của chúng ta không phải chỉ là những bản chất cá nhân hoàn hảo hay là những thành tích cá nhân. Nhưng nếu Chúa Giêsu kêu gọi chúng ta, Ngài ta sẽ trang bị hành trang cho chúng ta để trở thành những người mà Chúa muốn. Chúa sẽ làm cho chúng ta trở thành những kẻ đánh lưới người. Hãy để Chúa Giêsu làm chủ và hướng dẫn cho cuộc đời của Chúng ta, Ngài không những chỉ là một nhà tư vấn thường xuyên bình thưòng, nhưng là một đạo diễn cho cuộc đời chúng ta để đưa chúng ta đến gần với Thiên Chúa.
Lạy Chúa, xin cho chúng con luôn liên tục có được sự hướng dẫn và sức mạnh Của Chúa.
We pray for so many things, such as health, success, and relationships. The prayer of Colossians for Christians is the one prayer that should be in our hearts. It takes care of everything! Paul — or someone writing in his name — prayed that his community might be filled with spiritual understanding and a full knowledge of God’s will. When we have that everything else seems to fall into place. As the old saying goes, it is better to seek the God of consolation rather than the consolation of God.
Peter and his friends were probably irritated and a little amused when Jesus told them to put down their nets again. After all, they had fished all night without success. The final attempt was a winner because it was done at the Lord's direction and guidance and with his help. In a similar way, we often become discouraged when our own efforts to achieve something have been unsuccessful. Perhaps we have been trying too hard to do it alone — our own ego and weakness gets in the way. Make another attempt — but this time with Jesus. Maybe we will haul in a great catch! Jesus was not interested in Peter’s embarrassment at his own weakness and unworthiness.
Again, our journey is not about perfectionism or personal accomplishments. If Jesus calls us, he will fashion us into the person we were meant to be. He will make us fishers of people. Let Jesus be your director, not just an occasional consultant. Lord, give me your constant guidance and strength
Consider carefully this very moving action of Simon Peter. Jesus had just begun His public ministry, healing Simon’s mother-in-law as one of His first miracles. After that, Simon witnessed Jesus heal many other sick people and cast out many demons. And then, shortly after these initial miracles, Jesus got into the boat of Simon, directed him to “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” As soon as Simon obeyed, he caught so many fish that they needed a second boat to come and help them. The response of Simon to this additional miracle is recorded above.
Three things take place in this passage. First, “Simon Peter saw this…” And though he saw this, literally with his eyes, we should see his “seeing” as something even deeper. Simon Peter saw not just the best day of fishing he had ever had. He saw God’s grace at work through Jesus and was deeply moved interiorly by what he saw. Jesus used that which was one of the most central parts of Simon Peter’s life (fishing) to manifest His divine power. In a sense, Jesus brought this lesson home to Simon, using fishing as the source of His lesson.
Secondly, Simon’s response was perfect. By encountering this divine miracle, Simon immediately was aware of his sin. Though we do not know what Simon’s sin was, it is clear that this encounter with our Lord led him to immediately call to mind whatever he was guilty of. Perhaps he had struggled with some ongoing habitual sin for years, or perhaps he had done something of a grave nature that still haunted him. But all we know is that Simon’s encounter with this very powerful and personal miracle moved him to an awareness of his sin.
Thirdly, Simon falls at the knees of Jesus and tells the Lord to depart from him. And though Jesus’ mercy is so great that Jesus would never depart from him, Simon is not only aware of the fact that he is unworthy to be in Jesus’ presence, but he also manifests this conviction through his humble action of repentance.
What does Jesus do? He said, “Do not be afraid…” And when these new disciples arrived at shore, “they left everything and followed him.”
Each one of us must encounter our Lord in this same way. We must see Jesus. We must be deeply attentive to Him. We must recognize His presence, hear His voice and see His action in our life. If this is done well and through faith, then our personal encounter with our Lord will shine light on the sin we need to repent of. This is not so that we remain in guilt and shame; rather, it is so that we can also humble ourselves before Jesus and acknowledge we are not worthy of Him. When this humble admission is done well, we can be assured that Jesus will also say to us, “Do not be afraid.” His consoling words to us must then be responded to with the same choice made by Simon and the others. We must be ready and willing to leave everything behind so as to follow Him.
Reflect, today, upon this image of Simon Peter on his knees before Jesus. See his humility and honesty. See his sincerity and interior awareness. And see his understanding of the divine power of Jesus before him. Pray that you, too, will see our Lord, experience your sin, humble yourself before Him and hear Him call you to radically and completely follow after Him wherever He leads.
My consoling Lord, You manifested Your almighty power to Simon Peter through his ordinary daily activity. You allowed him to see Your divine power at work. Help me to see You at work in my life also, dear Lord. And as I see You, help me to humble myself before You, acknowledging my unworthiness. As I do, I pray that I also hear You say to me “Do not be afraid,” so that I can get up and follow You wherever You lead. Jesus, I trust in You.
Jesus Entered Simon’s Boat: Jesus “saw two boats there alongside the lake… [and he got] into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon.” God always takes the initiative in his relationship with us. God created us without asking us. He worked out our salvation of his own initiative. Nevertheless, he does await our response and our collaboration. Our first response to God’s initiative is faith (CCC 166). In this passage, we see Jesus taking the initiative in his relationship with Peter. Jesus chose Peter’s boat among many and asked Peter permission to enter both his boat and his life. Peter accepted. Jesus then took the next step by asking Peter to cast his net. We can only respond to God; even our positive response is the fruit of God’s grace in our soul.
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