Duc in Altum

I've been thinking about the phrase "throw out into the deep" from the gospel of Luke (today's gospel) which is translated into latin as "duc in altum". This was the phrase the John Paul II used to initiate a reflection on vocations last March, though it wasn't the first time that he used that phrase. Two things come to mind when I read John Paul II about this. The first is that "throw out into the deep" involves taking a chance. The disciples had been burned the night before. They had tried and failed to catch fish. Now they are tired and frustrated and, if it were me, the last thing I would want to do is go fishing. But, they are willing to take a chance because they trust Jesus. That willingness, despite having already cleaned up their nets, paid off for a whole night of bad fishing. But, in this act of fishing, they can see a foreshadowing of what they will soon be doing full time...catching people (lit. "fishing for men"). Many people have jobs that don't seem to have any affect on the kingdom of God. How might God be using those types of jobs to prepare you for ministry?

an analogy

All analogies have areas of similarity and dissimilarity so bear with this.

Yesterday morning, I went to the dentist. It had been a year and a half or better since I had gone and I had broken off part of one of my molars so it was time. I sat in the chair and had x-rays taken of the one that had broken off and the dentist starting numbing the area around the bad tooth. Then, he started looking around and found two other teeth that he was fairly certain would need to have fillings replaced. So, I went back today to get them done and get the cleaning that was long over due. In the middle of it, he found two other teeth that needed to have their fillings replaced. I'll go back a week from Thursday to get them done and, hopefully, be finished with fillings for a while.

But, it did prompt me to reflect on the idea of reconciliation. Most catholics in today's world simultaneously say that they don't need to go to confession and that the church instills a sense of guilt. Confession is like that visit to the dentist that I should have done a year ago. It clears out all the things you need to be guilty about so that you can go on with your life. Otherwise, you bring all this baggage along with you and the result is guilt. And, while it's true that you only need to go to confession once a year, it's just as true that we probably need to go more often than that. It's definitely something that feels worse before we do it. I always feel better when I leave than when I start.

So, find a good dentist and get your teeth cleaned and a good priest and get your soul done too.

Living the passionate life

This weekend was a big one for the mass at St. Thomas. We spent time introducing the staff members. Then we handed out time and talent forms so that parishioners could get involved. That meant that mass started about five minutes later than usual which means I kept my homily short.

So, I talked about having conviction. In this world, there are an awful lot of people, myself included, who tend to be dispassionate about their faith. The challenge of christians is that, in being tolerant of other people's free will, we can't lose the passion we feel about the faith. We also can't become so focused on one issue that we miss out on the breath of God's will. God has given us the church so that we can get behind all that he wants from us.