We all have different experiences of God in our lives and different images of God that come from our minds and our imaginations. When I served at St Richard parish in Jackson as a new priest, the students made handmade prayer cards with the prayer of St Richard of Chichester on the back for Catholic schools week. The prayer cards showed the different ways the children see God. One prayer card that really enchanted me was drawn by a 4th grader, showing a tiny cardinal flying in the sky above the mountains. Like many people, I often see God in the beauty of nature, so to me this was a wonderful image of God’s glory. But the image of a bird flying through nature also brought to my mind how small I can feel in comparison to the all-powerful God who created us. Our readings today call us to take a look at our feelings of unworthiness and insignificance that we might experience in our faith.
The calling Isaiah receives to be a prophet involves a vision he had. Isaiah sees God on a throne high in the heavens, with choirs of angels praising God and the glory with which God fills the earth. In the midst of God’s glory, Isaiah feels unworthiness, seeing that any words coming from his mouth as not being worthy of God. An angel swoops down to Isaiah’s lips with a burning coal to purify his lips and his words. Even though Isaiah feels unworthy, God still calls him to be a prophet, showing the confidence God has in him.
Then, in today’s Gospel, Jesus encounters Simon and his companions as they are washing their nets. He tells Simon: “Put out into the deep water – let down your nets for a catch.” Yet, Simon explains that he and the other fishermen had worked all night, having caught nothing. We wonder: Does Jesus know something that the fishermen don’t know? But they trust Jesus and obey his command to lower their nets. They bring up an abundance of fish, enough to tear their nets to shreds and sink their boats. Having come up empty the night before at the same place, they have a catch beyond all imagining.
Simon Peter is overwhelmed by what has happened, he feels unworthy to receive such a blessing from God. And we might ask ourselves: Do we have preconceptions and rigid expectations about God that limit the way God works in our lives, hindering us on our journey? Simon Peter cries out: “Depart from me Lord; I am a sinful man.” We are indeed sinful; we can feel limited and insignificant if dwell on our identity as created beings, on our struggles of faith and trust.
Sometimes, our view of God becomes distorted, even though we think we are backing up that view with our experiences and what we read in Scripture. For example, when I was a missionary in Ecuador, many of the youth there had a great fear of God, seeing God as a powerful being who would punish them and seek retribution. B. Yet, when the Scriptures talk about fearing God, it's in the sense of having respect and reverence for God. Our experience of God is to lead us to peace, joy, and wonder, not feelings of shame and unworthiness. The cross, Christ's suffering and passion, and our call to obey God: these are essential truths of our faith, but they must be connected to the salvation and redemption we receive from God through Christ.
In order to understand the feelings Isaiah and Simon express in our readings, perhaps it's not really shame they are feeling, but rather humility in their attempt to determine where they stand in the reality of God. When we come face-to-face with God's holiness, we are confronted with our human weaknesses and limitations. Perhaps Isaiah and Peter truly understood how they pale compared to the bright light of God. The humility that we are to feel in God's presence can be a very good thing if it helps us to be more open to God’s love and his presence. Isaiah’s humility and feelings of awe from his vision of God in heaven allow him to answer God’s call, as he says: “Here I am God, send me!”
Simon Peter and the fishermen obeyed Jesus in casting their nets. And what about us: Is there deep water out there where we need to cast our nets beyond our expectations, beyond our comfort zone and familiar surroundings? Is God calling us to cast out our nets somewhere in order to bring up the wonders that God has waiting for us? Are we open to using our imagination and to freeing our minds to truly see the ways God is present in our lives? Perhaps in our humility, we will find the courage to take that chance.
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