On what agape’ love is like:
Charity means nothing else but to love God for himself above all creatures, and to love other people for God's sake as one loves oneself.
- The Cloud of Unknowing
(First things first)
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COL 1:9-14; PS 98:2-3AB, 3CD-4, 5-6
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.
Reflection on the Scriptures
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Change can be energizing but it can also be unsettling. Today’s first reading from Paul’s letter to the Colossians is filled with joyful encouragement. Paul reminds the Colossians of God’s abiding love as “He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Paul’s
words remind me to slow down in times of unsettling change and become grounded in God’s love. During these busy, and sometimes trying days, I continue to pray to “be filled with the knowledge of God's will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.”
In today’s Gospel from Luke, the disciples Simon Peter, James and John experience a dramatic demonstration of the wisdom of Jesus and a consequent change in identity. Jesus asks them to make a leap of faith by dropping their fishing nets in waters that had not yet yielded a good catch. The bountiful catch humbles the men and deepens their faith. Jesus uses this
powerful experience to help the men understand that they are now fishers of people to invite them to know God. The humility they experienced on the water helps them be more available to those they encounter who are questioning Jesus.
- by Mary Lee Brock
Revelations of Divine Love
- by Julian of Norwich
Fourteenth Revelation, Chapter 63
“As verily as sin is unclean, so verily is it unkind”—a disease or monstrous thing against nature. “He shall heal us full fair.”
And when we by Mercy of God and with His help accord us to Nature and Grace, we shall see verily that sin is in sooth viler and more painful than hell, without likeness: for it is contrary to our fair nature. For as verily as sin is unclean, so verily is it unnatural, and thus an horrible thing to see for the loved soul that would be all fair and shining in the sight of God, as Nature and Grace teacheth.
Yet be we not adread of this, save inasmuch as dread may speed us: but meekly make we our moan to our dearworthy Mother, and He shall besprinkle us in His precious blood and make our soul full soft and full mild, and heal us full fair by process of time, right as it is most worship to Him and joy to us without end. And of this sweet fair working He shall never cease nor stint till all His dearworthy children be
born and forthbrought. (And that shewed He where He shewed [me] understanding of the ghostly Thirst, that is the love-longing that shall last till Doomsday.)
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