The miraculous catch

image of the power of faith and the riches of God's gifts

In the homily at the end of the Divine Liturgy, His Grace Bishop Ioan Casian spoke to the faithful about the significance of this Sunday which refers to the miraculous fishing in connection with the new liturgical year:

“This Sunday speaks to us about the richness of God's gifts. God is generous and good. He wishes to offer us His gifts in abundance, so that we come back to Him. Today's Gospel episode happens at Lake Gennesaret where the crowd had come to hear the word of God. On the shore of the lake there were fishermen who had spent the night to catch fish. Jesus got into Simon Peter's boat to teach the crowd. Then He told Simon to go where the water is deeper.

St. Peter the Apostle shows his faith which goes beyond obvious human weakness. He responds to the Savior's invitation to go deeper and cast the net: ‘Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless, at Your word I will let down the net.’[1] Seeing the miracle, Simon Peter fell to Jesus' knees, afraid: ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!’[2] He said this out of humility, because he considered himself a sinner and also because he recognized that Christ was God.

The Church Fathers see this episode as a symbol of our sacred history. The lake is the world, which also has storms, quiet times, ups and downs. St. Nicholas Velimirovich presents us several meanings from which we can understand this episode: the Gospel would is the net, which attracts men, who enter the boat of God who is the Church. Obedience to the word of God, of Christ, is the way that leads into the boat.

The boat can be understood also as the body of man. The net is the old man who breaks under the weight of grace. The deep water would be the depth of the soul where grace is found.

The man who obeys the word of God leaves the material, sensory world, to unite with the deep spiritual world and the fish caught are the image of the graces he receives according to his faith.”

Towards the end of the homily, the hierarch referred to the relationship between this Sunday and the liturgical year which has just begun, inviting the faithful to reflect also on the example of the life of St. Neagoe Basarab:

“How would this Gospel relate to the new liturgical year? If we want to navigate this liturgical year to have the fruits of the Holy Spirit, we must obey God. If we navigate according to our judgment, shipwrecks and disasters will be inevitable. We forget that there is a Creator of the world. We are not the masters of the world. We cannot understand our vocation without knowing the Word of God.

Today we celebrate a Romanian saint, Prince Neagoe Basarab, politician, who reigned between 1512-1521. He also had spiritual preoccupations. He has left us in writing the teachings for his son Theodosius which include guidance for governing the state according to the precepts of God and for living an authentic spiritual life. Let’s take the example of this upright layman, who brought love and wisdom into political affairs.

Today's international socio-political events show us the justice of the Christian attitude, that is, of forgiveness, of understanding and correcting things according to God's commandments. To leave with the desire for revenge, even if it seems justified by the logic of this world, is doomed to failure. By ignoring the other's situation, his or her values ​​and history, only creates a resentment that will hardly be possible to remove.

Let us begin this year with a spirit of obedience to the Word of God to convert the time of the year into spiritual time, to deepen our spiritual life, to mature as Christians.”

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[1] Luke 5, 5

[2] Luke 5, 8