Webinar: "Discerning God's
Will" |
A webinar is a live, interactive online
presentation.
- by Philip St. Romain, M.S., D. Min.
- September 8, 2016, 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. CDT
- Free-will donation
Does God have a plan for our lives? What does Scripture teach about this? How can we know if we are doing God’s will? These and other topics will be address in this webinar. Participants will also
receive a free copy of Philip’s eBook on Discerning God’s Will.
To a disciple
who was forever complaining about others the Master said,
“If it is peace you want, seek to change yourself, not other people. It is easier to protect your feet with slippers than to carpet the whole of the earth.”
- Anthony de Mello, One Minute Wisdom |
1 Cor 3:18-23; Ps 24:1bc-2, 3-4ab, 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 |
In most of the New Testament, Peter appears to be somewhat dumbfounded by what he sees Jesus do and hears him say, but here Peter seems to be very much in tune with the situation and what is called for. He is a professional fisherman, and a tired one at that, and his first response to the Lord shows what he thinks will happen; nevertheless, he puts himself and his crew into the Lord's hands and very simply does what the Lord asks him
to do.
This is trust and humility, but at root it is also and primarily faith. An English Protestant evangelist of the 19th century, Oswald Chambers, once stated that “Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One
who is leading.” That is what is happening here, and it is at the root of why Jesus takes Peter to be one of those closest to him in his work and even in his passion. Peter will love Jesus, will continually fail even after Pentecost, and yet will be the leader of the Twelve and of the Church.
Can we have the same faith, the same love of the Lord? Are we able to let our sins and our sinfulness not hold us back from doing what good we can in Jesus' Name --- or from turning back to him again and again when we fail?
- by Charles Kestermeier, S.J.
Revelations of Divine
Love - by Julian of Norwich
Tenth Revelation, Chapter 24
“Our Lord looked unto His [wounded] Side, and beheld,
rejoicing. . . . And also, for more understanding, this blessed word was said: Lo, how I loved thee! Behold and see that I loved thee so much ere I died for thee that I would die for thee; and now I have died for thee and suffered willingly that which I may. And now is all my bitter pain and all my hard travail turned to endless joy and bliss to me and to thee. How should it now be that thou shouldst anything
pray that pleaseth me but that I should full gladly grant it thee? For my pleasing is thy holiness and thine endless joy and bliss with me.
This is the understanding, simply as I can say it, of this blessed word: Lo, how I loved thee. This shewed our good Lord for to make us glad and merry.
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