“Practicing” Our Faith

Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8

1 Corinthians 1-11

Luke 5:1-11

Divine Inspiration

Today’s Gospel is about going deeper.  Simon, who is a professional fisherman, has been fishing all day.  And, he has caught nothing.  After a long day of preaching, Jesus decides to get into Simon’s boat.  Simon was probably thinking, “Well, I’m not doing very well as a fisherman.  I may as well be a boat chauffer.”  But, Jesus asks him to put out his nets.  Simon, who truly is a professional fisherman and knows what he’s doing, tells Jesus that he’s been at it all day and caught nothing.  He might have even thought, ‘This Jesus is a great preacher, but he’s no fisherman.”  But, Simon figures he’s got nothing to lose and says, “As you command.”  He goes out to deeper water, puts out his nets, and the result is astounding – he catches more fish than the nets can hold.  He’s so amazed that, afterward he says he’s done as a professional fisherman and going to follow Christ full-time.  Just think how close he came to missing out on this because he thought he knew more than Jesus.

How often in our lives do we hear the little voice in our head or heart telling us what to do, yet we ignore it because we think we know more or we know better?  And, in that moment, what wondrous experiences with God are we missing out on?  The thing of it all is that God has blessed us with brains to think.  But, sometimes, those brains get in the way.  We might even go as far as to tell God that He doesn’t understand the circumstances.  But not only does he understand them, he will pull us through them with flying colors if we only let him, if we listen to Him and not ourselves, if we have FAITH.

This is the very essence of faith – thinking we may know better or want to do something different, yet yielding to God anyway.  It takes practice.  It doesn’t just happen.  Well, maybe after lots of practice, it just happens naturally.  But, it takes a daily – even hourly – recognition that in that moment when we think we know what we’re doing, we take a step back and ask God what is HIS will, and then we do THAT instead.  The more we do this, the more natural it becomes and the deeper our faith and our relationship with God grows.

Amen.

Readings and Divine Inspiration from Sunday, February 10, 2013.