September 4, 2025
Thursday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 434
Reading 1
Brothers and sisters:
From the day we heard about you, we do not cease praying for you
and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God's will
through all spiritual wisdom and understanding
to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord,
so as to be fully pleasing, in every good work bearing fruit
and growing in the knowledge of God,
strengthened with every power, in accord with his glorious might,
for all endurance and patience,
with joy giving thanks to the Father, who has made you fit to share
in the inheritance of the holy ones in light.
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.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (2) The Lord has made known his salvation.
The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of Israel.
R. The Lord has made known his salvation.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
break into song; sing praise.
R. The Lord has made known his salvation.
Sing praise to the LORD with the harp,
with the harp and melodious song.
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
sing joyfully before the King, the LORD.
R. The Lord has made known his salvation.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Come after me, says the Lord,
and I will make you fishers of men.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
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.
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090425.cfm
Commentary on
Colossians 1:9-14
Paul continues from yesterday’s reading his words of praise
and encouragement for the Christians of Colossae. Moved by Epaphras’ account,
Paul has prayed fervently for the Colossians that their response to the gospel
may bring the fullest knowledge of God’s will, “in all spiritual wisdom and
understanding”. He expects a mutual interaction between their life according to
the gospel and this knowledge, which will reveal the power of God’s presence
among them, strengthen them in courage and calm determination, and result in
their grateful love of the Father for his saving gifts. For the Father conquers
the power of evil over men by offering them the power of his Son, who is his
love in person and has already forgiven their sins.
Following on what Paul has heard from Epaphras about the
strong faith of the Colossians, he makes a beautiful prayer on their behalf. It
is laid out here in a way that will make it easier for us to see its contents.
It is a prayer that we can make for ourselves and for other people. Let us hear
Paul saying this prayer for each one of us:
…we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you
may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and
understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him,
as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God.
May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious
power, so that you may have all endurance and patience, joyfully giving thanks
to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in
the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into
the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of
sins.
This is a prayer we should take line by line, stopping at
any word or phrase which we find particularly meaningful or relevant to our own
life and pausing there for a while—or even make that word or phrase the subject
of our whole prayer.
Let’s think about some of the lines in the prayer:
…we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you
may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and
understanding
Scriptural knowledge is not merely the possession of facts
or knowing a lot about the Bible. Rather, knowledge and wisdom in the Bible are
concerned with the inner meaning of every passage and how it touches on living
a Christ-filled life.
May you be made strong with all the strength that comes
from his glorious power, so that you may have all endurance and patience,
joyfully giving thanks to the Father…
This is the lot of God’s holy people (the hagioi)—what
all holy people are to inherit, i.e. the ‘salvation’ that originally had been
thought of as a bequest made exclusively to the Chosen People of Israel.
Now, with the coming of Jesus, non-Jews are called to share
in:
…the inheritance of the saints in the light.
This symbolises holiness, truth, love, glory and life.
Accordingly, God, Christ and the Christian are all characterised by light. The
“kingdom of light” is the opposite of the “dominion of darkness”. ‘Kingdom’
does not here refer to a territory, but to the authority, rule or sovereign
power of a king (Greek, basileia, meaning ‘reign’ or ‘kingship’).
Here it means that the Christian is no longer under the dominion of evil
(darkness), but under the loving rule of God’s Son.
To be in the ‘Kingdom’ is to be closely united to God in
being the kind of person he wants to us to be, and to be in cooperative union
with others who are also that kind of person. What more could we ask for than a
full knowledge of God’s will and to be filled with wisdom and spiritual
insight? It is a prayer we need to make in some form every day of our lives.
Only then may we:
…walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him.
Let us then today thank God for all that he has done for us
through Jesus Christ and the Christian community to which we belong. Let us
pray that we grow in knowledge and wisdom and insight so that we may love and
serve him more and more.
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Commentary on Luke
5:1-11
Today we read Luke’s version of the first call of Jesus’
disciples. It differs significantly from the parallel versions in Mark and
Matthew and is a combination of passages from Mark and John.
We are told that Jesus was standing by the shore of the
“Lake of Gennesaret”. The other Gospel writers call it the Sea of Galilee and
John twice refers to it as the Sea of Tiberias.
Because of the large crowds pressing in on him to hear the
word of God, Jesus was forced to borrow one of two boats moored near the shore
where their owners were washing their nets:
He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon*, and asked him to
put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds
from the boat.
As we saw in the synagogue at Nazareth (and also in the
Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel), sitting was the usual teaching
position. From a practical point of view, by preaching from the boat Jesus
could avoid the pressure of the crowd and yet be close enough to speak to them.
It is a simple, straightforward statement and yet there is a
symbolism here. Jesus gets into Simon’s boat and teaches from it. In the
Gospel, the boat is frequently a symbol of the church community. It is very
meaningful to say that Jesus stepped into that boat, that it was Simon’s boat,
and that he taught from there. It is a symbol of what is to come in the near
future.
Now comes the lesson and the revelation. At the end of the
teaching, Simon is told to go out into the deep water and start fishing. Simon
says in response:
Master, we have worked all night long but have caught
nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.
Perhaps one can sense something of the condescension of the
expert towards the amateur in Simon’s response, i.e. “we know there are no fish
there, but just to make you happy, we’ll put out the nets.”
But their nets were hardly in the water when they were so
full of fish that they were on the point of breaking. They (Simon and those
others with him in the boat) had to call their companions in the other boat to
come to their help (they do not seem to have caught any fish; only Simon’s boat
does). The two boats together were now so full of fish that they were on the
point of sinking.
Simon, just before, so arrogant and all-knowing, is now
totally overcome. He knew there were no fish there. So there
was only one explanation. The man standing before him was someone very special:
Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!
It is the reaction of a person in the presence of God’s
overwhelming power and goodness. We see similar reactions by Abraham (Gen
18:27), Job (42:6) and Isaiah (6:5).
Simon—the ‘expert’—realises he is nothing in the presence of
this man. Instead, he becomes aware of his shortcomings. Paradoxically, it is
the saints who are most ready to acknowledge their sinfulness. And his
companions, James and John, were equally amazed. There is no mention of Andrew
in this version of the story because he would have been in his brother Simon’s
boat. The passage indicates that Simon was not alone in the boat (“we have
worked hard all night…”).
Some commentators feel that Luke may have borrowed this
story from John’s account of the disciples going fishing at the end of that Gospel.
It has been noted that Simon calls Jesus ‘Lord’, a post-resurrection title, and
refers to his sinfulness, which makes more sense after his triple denial during
the Passion. The story also looks forward to Peter’s leadership (his name is
changed by then), which is confirmed in the same chapter of John.
Jesus then reassures Simon and his companions:
Do not be afraid…
These are words they will hear again because he is calling
them to be his partners in the work of building his Kingdom. The huge catch of
fish made by the boat carrying Jesus and Simon is a sign of a much greater
catch of people to be made by the new community led by the Spirit of Jesus and
under the leadership of Peter.
Unlike the other Gospels, Luke has a period of teaching and
miracles preceding the call of the disciples. This makes their unhesitating
response less surprising and more plausible.
They heard the message, they accepted the call and:
When they had brought their boats to shore, they left
everything and followed him.
In Mark and Matthew, they left their nets and boats. In
Luke’s Gospel especially, the following of Jesus is understood as absolute—one
must leave everything and throw in one’s lot totally with Jesus wherever that
will lead. Those boats and nets were the security on which the lives of Simon,
his companions and their families depended. But they left them and everything
else. This is faith; this is trust. Without it, the mission cannot succeed.
_______________________________________________
*He will not be called Peter until Luke’s next chapter.
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Thursday,
September 4, 2025
Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
Almighty God,
every good thing comes from you.
Fill our hearts with love for you, increase our faith,
and by your constant care
protect the good you have given us.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Gospel Reading - Luke 5: 1-11
Now it happened that Jesus was standing one
day by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the crowd pressing round him listening to
the word of God, when he caught sight of two boats at the water’s edge. The
fishermen had got out of them and were washing their nets.
He got into one of the boats - it was Simon’s
- and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught
the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking he said to Simon, ‘Put
out into deep water and pay out your nets for a catch.’ Simon replied, ‘Master,
we worked hard all night long and caught nothing, but if you say so, I will pay
out the nets.’ And when they had done this they netted such a huge number of
fish that their nets began to tear, so they signaled to their companions in the
other boat to come and help them; when these came, they filled both boats to
sinking point. When Simon Peter saw this he fell at the knees of Jesus saying,
‘Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man.’ For he and all his companions were
completely awestruck at the catch they had made; so also were James and John,
sons of Zebedee, who were Simon’s partners. But Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be
afraid; from now on it is people you will be catching.’
Then, bringing their boats back to land they left everything
and followed him.
Reflection
In today’s Gospel we have the call of Jesus to Peter. The
Gospel of Mark places the call of the first disciples after the beginning of
the public ministry of Jesus (Mk 1: 16-20). Luke after that the fame of Jesus
was already extended across the whole region (Lk 4: 14). Jesus had cured many
people (Lk 4: 40) and had preached in the Synagogues of all the country (Lk 4:
44). The people looked for him and the crowds pushed him on all sides in order
to hear the Word of God (Lk 5: 1). Luke makes more understandable the call. In
the first place, Peter can listen to the words of Jesus to the people. And then
he is a witness of the miraculous catch of fish. It is only after this double
surprising experience that he understands the call of Jesus. Peter responds, he
abandons everything and becomes a “fisherman of men.”
•
Luke 5: 1-3: Jesus teaches from the boat. People
look for Jesus in order to listen to the Word of God. Many persons get together
around Jesus, they make a throng around him. And Jesus seeks help from Simon
Peter and from some
of his companions who had just
returned from fishing. He goes into the boat with them and responds to the
expectation of the people, communicating to them the Word of God. Sitting down,
Jesus takes the attitude of a Teacher and speaks from a fisherman’s boat. The
novelty consists in the fact that he teaches, not only in the Synagogue for a
choice public but in any place, where there are people who wish to listen, even
on the seashore.
•
Luke 5: 4-5: “But if you say so, I will pay out
the nets.” When he had finished speaking, he addresses himself to Simon and
encourages him to fish again. In Simon’s response there is frustration,
tiredness and discouragement: “Master, we worked hard all night long and caught
nothing!” But trustful in Jesus’ word, they throw in the nets again and
continue the struggle. The word of Jesus has greater force for them than the
experience of frustration of that night!
•
Luke 5: 6-7: The result is surprising. The catch
is so abundant that the nets are about to tear and the boat begins to sink.
Simon needs the help of John and of James who are in the other boat. Nobody is
complete in himself, alone. One community has to help the other. The conflict
among the communities, both at the time of Luke as well as today, should be
overcome in order to attain a common objective, which is the mission. The
experience of the force of the word of Jesus which transforms is the axis
around which the differences are embraced and overcome.
•
Luke 5: 8-11: “Be fishermen of men.” The
experience of the closeness of God in
Jesus makes Peter understand who he
is: “Leave me Lord, I am a sinful man!” Before God we are all sinners. Peter
and his companions are afraid, and, at the same time, they feel attracted to
Jesus. Jesus drives away fear: “Do not be afraid!” He calls Peter and commits
him to the mission, ordering him to be a fisherman of men. Peter experiences,
quite concretely, that the word of Jesus is like the word of God. It is capable
to bring about what it affirms. In Jesus those rough and tough laborers will
have an experience of power, of courage, of trust. And so then, “they will
abandon everything and follow Jesus!” Up until now it was only Jesus who announced
the Good News of the Kingdom. Now other persons will be called and involved in
the mission. This way in which Jesus works, in ‘equipe,’ in a team is also Good
News for the people.
•
The episode of the catch of fish along the lake
indicates the attraction and the force of the Word of Jesus. He attracts people
(Lk 5: 1). He urges Peter to offer his boat to Jesus to be able to speak (Lk 5:
3). The word of Jesus is so strong that it overcomes the resistance in Peter,
it convinces him to throw the nets into the sea again and there is the
miraculous catch (Lk 5: 4-6). It overcomes in him the will to leave Jesus and
attracts him to become a “fisherman of men” (Lk 5,\: 10). This is the way the
Word of God acts in us, up until now!
Personal Questions
•
Where and how does the miraculous catch of fish
take place today; the one which takes place paying attention to the word of
Jesus?
•
And they leaving everything followed Jesus. What
do I have to leave in order to follow Jesus?
Concluding Prayer
Who shall go up to the mountain
of Yahweh? Who shall take a stand in his holy place?
The clean of hands and pure of heart, who does not swear an
oath in order to deceive. (Ps 24: 3-4)
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