Launch Out Into The Deep

By Fr. Conor Donnelly

(Proofread)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins and grace to make this time of prayer fruitful. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

“Now it happened that he was standing one day by the Lake of Gennesareth, 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” (Luke 5:1-3).

Our Lord was standing by the lakeside with this big crowd around Him, but at the same time, while He was focused on the crowd, He was also focused on Peter.

There's this contrast: the general big number of people that were there and the one particular soul. Our Lord was looking for a way to enter Simon's soul and so He asked him to put out a little from the land.

Then He used that boat for a while, taught the people while He was there standing in the boat. Possibly, Peter was listening, but he might have been also just finishing off his work, after all, that night they had been fishing, cleaning up the nets, cleaning out all the different stuff that might be there.

And when He had finished speaking Our Lord said, “Put out into the deep and pay out your nets for a catch” (Luke 5:4).

Possibly, every instinct of Peter was to say, ‘No. We've been out all night, we're tired, we didn't catch anything. There's no point. We know all the fish in this lake and if we say there's no fish, well, there's no fish.’

But there was something about Our Lord's glance, or something about His question and His petition, that had a certain fascination for Peter.

It caused him to put aside all those initial instincts that he had, and to try again. His only reason for doing so was the word that Our Lord spoke: “We've toiled all night and caught nothing! But at your word…” (Luke 5:5).

He gives an example for the whole of eternity of the importance of listening to that word. Maybe it’s the only reason for doing things, but it's a wonderful reason.

We might be a bit weary, sometimes, from not seeing results in our interior life or in our apostolate. We might have a sensation, sometimes, of total failure, or have lots of reasons for giving up.

But that's when we should hear the voice of Our Lord saying to us, ‘Duc in altum, try again, begin once more, start off all over again, in my Name.’

And that's what's going to make the difference—that supernatural consideration and supernatural outlook.

One of the main messages in this annual course, we were told, was precisely that: supernatural outlook. The work that we're involved in is supernatural. Our approach must be supernatural. Our reactions have to be supernatural. Faith, trust, hope.

“The secret of progress,” said one spiritual writer, “and of every victory, is, in fact, to know how to begin again, and to learn from a failure and to try once more” (George Chevrot, Simon Peter).

Possibly, through all the apparent failures, Our Lord may be telling us that we have to try, for more supernatural reasons, to function out of obedience, for Him and for Him only. “At your word…”

Our Father, St. Josemaría, in The Way, says, “The power of obedience! The lake of Gennesareth had denied its fishes to Peter's nets. A whole night in vain. Then, obedient, he lowered his nets again to the water and they caught ‘a huge number of fish.’ Believe me: the miracle is repeated every day” (Josemaría Escrivá, The Way, Point 629).

“Simon replied, ‘Master, we worked 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 their companions in the other boat to come and help them. When these came, they filled both boats to sinking point” (Luke 5:5-7).

If ever we find ourselves a little bit tired out or unable to begin again, we should look to Our Lord beside us in the boat, inviting us to begin again with a new docility, with real effort, to listen to the advice that we've received, perhaps in Confession or spiritual direction. And then we'll find the strength to go on.

St. Teresa says, “I often thought my constitution would never endure the work I had to do, but the Lord said to me: ‘Daughter, obedience gives strength’” (Teresa of Ávila, Foundations).

And so, we find a certain power there, reasons for going on, cast the nets here, cast the nets there.

We never know what souls Our Lord is going to bring us in contact with. So this virtue—listening to the Word—is very essential to follow Our Lord closely.

When Peter went out into the lake with Our Lord in the boat, he very quickly discovered that his nets were filling, so much so that they were in danger of breaking. So they had to call their friends. There was fish for everybody.

Obedience is always rewarded bountifully. This passage of the Gospel can be full of lessons for us.

In Christ's absence, everything can be in vain. If people try to promote apostolic work without counting on God, but counting on their own experience and human factors, they end up in great darkness.

But when we're working for God, we leave it to Him. If we try to insist on doing things our way, doing our own will, guided only by our own judgment, then, we may end up with a lot of fruitlessness.

We are told in The Forge, “My child, if you don't give up your own judgment, if you are proud, if you devote yourself to ‘your’ apostolate, you will work all night—and your whole life will be one long night—and at the end of it all the dawn will find you with your nets empty” (J. Escrivá, The Forge, Point 574).

Peter showed a certain humility by listening to somebody who wasn't a fisherman and so could be supposed to know nothing about the work in which he, Simon, had acquired so much experience, so much knowledge. ‘I know. I know from experience. I know everything about my job.’

But yet, he trusts. He has more confidence in Our Lord, in His Word, more than in all the years of toil that he had already put into his work.

We can see from this passage that Our Lord had already won Peter over a little bit. He knew how to respond a little bit to the things Our Lord was asking.

He gives this very trusting response. These were the final touches of his initiation.

Above and beyond any considerations of convenience or efficiency, the principal reason why obedience is so essential for the disciple of Christ is that it forms part of the mystery of Redemption.

The Second Vatican Council says, “Christ revealed to us his mystery; by his obedience he brought about our redemption” (Vatican II, Lumen gentium, Point 3).

By eliciting that act of obedience from Peter, that total confidence, He prepared very much the ground for his future vocation.

Anyone who wishes to follow the Master's footsteps cannot place any limits to his obedience. Jesus taught us to obey in easy things and in heroic things because, as St. Thomas says, “He obeyed in things which were very weighty and difficult: unto death on the Cross” (St. Thomas, Commentary on Hebrews).

That obedience causes us to identify our will with the Will of God. That Will of God, as we know, can be manifested through people of the religious state, or other people who are there to guide us in different ways, so that we can identify our will with theirs—in family, social, professional life.

In a special way, we know that in our chat and Confession, we hear the Word of God there. We have to listen very carefully.

God expects of us a certain way of acting, an upright conduct, a unity of life that is manifested in all sorts of moments of our life, together with a cheerful disposition, in responding to all forms of lawful authority, particularly also the Magisterium of the Church, of the Holy Father.

If we stay with Christ, He always fills our nets. In His presence, even what appears to be fruitless and pointless becomes effective and fruitful.

I have just finished reading the history of the Diocese of Okuru. Very inspiring. You see all sorts of different people, with all sorts of different initiatives, in big places and small places, sometimes places that seem rather insignificant.

But when you put the whole thing together—it's a wonderful story of evangelization, of development, of God working in all sorts of ways, building the future, changing the world, all the things we dream about—all done through this little person here and that little person there, living a certain spirit, but corporately, turning the soil.

That's very much what we're involved in. The day-to-day realities and the humdrum things might seem to be superfluous or not fruitful, but yet, when you put it all together, something great is taking place.

Garrigou-Lagrange says, “Obedience makes our actions and sufferings meritorious in such a way that no matter how pointless they may seem, they in fact can be extremely fruitful” (Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).

Often the reality is completely different from what may be the apparent things, the superficial things.

“One of the many wonderful things Our Lord has done is to have made the most useless things, like pain, meaningful; by his obedience and his love, he has made it glorious” (Ibid.).

We should try and be open to God's will. Peter didn't feel like doing what he was asked to do. But then, when he saw the fruits, his reaction was completely different.

“When Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus saying, ‘Leave me, Lord; for I am a sinful man’” (Luke 5:8).

There may be times also when Our Lord gives us certain graces to see, with a deeper sense, our own self-love, or our own miseries, or our own weaknesses—to see them with greater clarity.

We could find those words of Peter coming to our lips. “For he and all his companions were completely awestruck at the catch they had made; so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were Simon's partners” (Luke 5:9-10).

There was just no comparison between the night of fruitless fishing, the dark night of the soul, and suddenly the incredible fruitfulness that was there.

And so, all the periods that we might experience, when we don’t seem to see any fruit, may be just a preparation for what’s there in the future.

“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” (Luke 5:10-11).

On seeing the miracles that Our Lord did, they changed their lives. Peter is dumbfounded at the catch they have landed.

Our Lord manifests Himself to many of the apostles at this moment, but very particularly to Peter. It was his soul that He was after.

Peter looked at Our Lord and then threw himself at His feet: “Depart from me” (Luke 5:8). He realized how insignificant he was in comparison to Christ's supreme majesty.

“I am nothing…I have nothing, I can do nothing” (cf. J. Escrivá, Friends of God, Point 215). If we are able to do anything, it is because of the grace of God working in us and through us.

Then Our Lord says those comforting words, “Do not be afraid” (Luke 5:10), words which He had said so frequently, particularly after His resurrection: “Do not be afraid, it is I” (John 6:20). He calms him down, gives him peace.

“Henceforth you will be catching men.” He is preparing him for this great endeavor that’s in the future, to be a fisher of men. “They left everything, and they followed him” (Luke 5:10-11).

All of this started when Jesus asked Peter for a loan of his boat, a small thing, but he ended up getting his life.

Peter was chosen in a special way, destined to have an indelible effect on all those souls that Christ Himself was to place in his care.

He began by obeying in small things and then Our Lord showed him the wonderful plans which He had prepared for all eternity for him, the poor fisherman of Galilee.

How often St. Josemaría invited us to pay an awful lot of attention to little things, to obey in small things, because “nothing is unimportant” (cf. J. Escrivá, Christ Is Passing By, Point 44). Do this, do that, take care of this thing in this way or that way.

All the activities that we organize—meditations, recollections, retreats, seminars—we also have to be careful with those little things, that everything is as it should be, the way that St. Josemaría left it.

Thousands and thousands of people have enkindled their faith in the faith of those men who that day followed Jesus. They “launched out into the deep” and they have enkindled their faith, particularly in the faith of Peter, who was to be the rock, the immovable foundation of the Church.

Nor can we foresee all the consequences of our following Christ faithfully. He continually asks us for a greater response, for more docility, for more obedience to the things He gradually shows us.

All the time we see aspects of our vocation with greater clarity. We see why things are this way, or we see the wisdom of having things this way. Or maybe we see that other people don't have things this way, and how lucky we are.

We come to see in different ways, with different optical angles, the importance of the life of St. Josemaría and of Blessed Álvaro. Their figures become bigger all the time as we learn new things—new things that we didn't know before, but now we've come to know.

If we are faithful, some day He will let us see the full importance of having followed Him with deeds.

We’re told in The Way, “Among those around you—apostolic soul—you are the stone fallen into the lake. With your word and your example you produce a first circle…and it another…and another, and another. … Wider each time. —Now do you understand the greatness of your mission? (J. Escrivá, The Way, 831).

We never know the depth and breadth of the circles that God wants us to create, from being that stone dropped into the lake. New circles every time, a new period of our life.

And, as many of the saints were told, let us not try to restrict God, as Peter didn't. “If you're one of those who launch out into the deep, set the course straight and firm. ... If you give yourself to God the way the saints did, let no one and nothing occupy your attention and slow you down: you belong to God.

“If you give yourself, give yourself for eternity. Let neither the rolling waves nor the treacherous undercurrent shake the concrete solidity of your foundations. God depends on you. He leans on you.

“Put all your energy into it and row against the current…‘Duc in altum.’ Launch out into the deep waters with [the daring of] all those around you who love Christ, and with the example of them” (Jesús Urteaga, Man the Saint).

One of the words that was striking among the meditations in the annual course was that people in the world don't think about eternal life, which is so true. Nobody goes around thinking about eternal life. They have so many things to think about in this life.

One of the things in all our means of formation that we try to remind people about, and in our apostolate, is precisely that.

St. Josemaría says, “Foster in your [heart] the glorious hope of heaven” (J. Escrivá, The Way, Point 668).

We have to try and foster it in many other souls. The purpose of retreats, of recollections, is reminding people that they have a soul and that there is eternal life. There is something else after this.

All the ups and downs, the tired nights of not catching anything, or what seems to be fruitless hours of work—all have a deeper meaning. They are all geared towards something. We are called to plant that seed.

Blessed Álvaro said, “The Lord is counting on you for the huge apostolic work awaiting us in your region and so many countries of the five continents.”

St. Josemaría's words in his last Circular Letter from Burgos in 1939 sound as timely as ever: “Refuse to look at the difficulties” (cf. J. Escrivá, Three Circular Letters, March 24, 1939).

We were given a get-together on some of the projects of this region on the last day of the annual course. You see wonderful projects there, great things to dream about, to think about, wonderful things to spend our life, maybe our nights not catching anything in vain, to bring about those great projects and the impact that they can have on societies, on cultures, on people.

“Refuse to look at the difficulties. Be optimistic, and having applied your usual supernatural means, cast your nets. It is for this that you are like Peter and like the twelve fishers of men” (cf. Matt. 4:19).

We don't know how God is using or casting our nets in these particular moments, using us in different ways to meet this particular person, to influence this environment, to plant this particular seed.

“There is an old Castilian proverb that comes to my mind, ‘Troubled waters mean a good catch’–A río revuelto, ganancia de pescadores.”

Each opportunity, each situation is an opportunity to cast those nets. ‘I am here for a purpose. God has got into my boat. He has placed me in this situation. He has placed these people around me. There is something here that I have to transmit.’

“Do the sowing then. I assure you, in the name of the Lord of the harvest, that there will be a good crop. But make a generous sowing… [And thus,] the whole world!” (Ibid.).

He continues, “That very same spirit is to be lived, even better if possible, when one works in a place where there are already a good number of faithful of the Prelature. The Work of St. Raphael or St. Gabriel, in a center, in a corporate undertaking, and so forth, is none other than the total of the personal apostolate of each of those involved in them, multiplied by God's grace.”

Our Lord wants us to go after each soul one by one. When Blessed Álvaro went to Korea in 1987, one of the people that he met there asked him how many people there were in Opus Dei, and he said 75,000.

This South Korean person said, “Only?” And he said, “When Opus Dei starts in South Korea, there will be 75,000 in the first year.”

Don Álvaro said, “Very good, very good, but one by one”—sort of to emphasize that that's the way we do things. The person hadn't quite understood things fully.

Those little points of how we do things are very important for our personal apostolate. We cannot measure supernatural results by human criteria.

Don Álvaro goes on to talk about “opening up like a fan, to have a group of souls hanging from each finger; not remaining,” he says, “huddled up in a corner like a rabbit, but opening our horizons. It's a great moment that we increase our own sense of responsibility in the apostolate.”

We have to bring these ideas back to our prayer again and again, asking for new lights, looking at these passages of the Gospel that the Church places in front of us, knowing that all the little—what might seem to be hiccups or contradictions along the pathway—are just means to reach more souls.

God has other plans. If He asks us for this or asks us for that, it’s because He has greater things He wants to give us.

He asked Peter for his boat, for his time, for his energy, for his will. Yet He wanted to give him so many greater things.

“Be very attentive,” he says, “to the suggestions of the Holy Spirit. Ask for enlightenment. Foster your spontaneity in searching for new friends and bringing them to Jesus Christ, to the Work, to the Church. The Church and civil society need our initiative.”

We were given a phrase in one of the monthly intentions some time ago about having “creative courage” (Pope Francis, Apostolic Letter, Patris Corde, Point 5, December 8, 2020). Creative courage and creative initiative.

We can all come up with some new idea, some new little thing perhaps, to launch out into the deep in this little area, or something we say to this person or that person, or we get together a few people to push the boat out a little farther and embark on new initiatives, because the Church and civil society need that initiative, that of each one of us, in order to open up new fields of apostolate in new areas that are calling for the tilling of the land.

“The situation we are going through—very good for our sanctification—calls for an evangelizing action that is both capillary and incisive. Let it be noticed that we do want Christ to reign in all human activities.”

That desire to have Christ reigning is shown also in that daily perseverance, in beginning again, in launching out into the deep. For such a huge task, it’s urgent that there must be men and women clearly conscious of the apostolic meaning of the Christian vocation.

One of the great messages that we try to transmit again and again to all sorts of people who come in contact is that apostolic dimension of the Christian vocation—that each person is called to be that fisher of men—to be like Peter, to launch out into the deep.

We can ask Our Lady, Queen of Apostles, that she might help us to bring these passages that the Church places before us to our prayer, to see the new consequences that they have for us in each of the different stages of our life, and to see how Our Lord is leading us closer to souls all the time so that we can try and bring them closer to Him.

Mary, Queen of Apostles, pray for us.

I thank you, my God, for the good resolutions, affections, and inspirations that you have communicated to me during this meditation. I ask your help to put them into practice. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

CA