Thursday – 17th Week in Ordinary Time   

Gospel – Matthew 13: 47-53

Gone Fishing

A Great Catch, South Haven, Michigan

I love fishing!  I very rarely get the chance to actually go fishing but what’s not to love!  Endless hours of sheer boredom and waiting followed by maybe 15 minutes of excitement!  The 2 most exciting moments for me were a week-long fishing trip years ago up in Canada with my best friend Dennis when I caught a 36 inch northern pike and an early morning Lake Michigan charter off South Haven with Jaime, Josh and baby Josh a few years ago where we hit the jackpot (see the pic)!  And that big catch in South Haven doesn’t even include all the fish that got away, the ones we had on the line but lost and the ones that were too small to keep and we had to let them go.

Which brings us to today’s Gospel and Jesus’ story of a big catch of fish; some were kept and some were tossed away, good fish and bad fish, the keepers and the ones that got away!  The ones who were brought into the Kingdom or the ones condemned to a different fate?

So what sort of fish are we?  Are we the fish that were too small to keep?  The fish that hadn’t grown big enough, hadn’t grown enough in their faith or in their Christian service?  The ones that still needed some time to mature in their faith?  Are we the ones who were so prideful and selfish that we took the bait, to begin with, but deliberately chose to spit out Jesus’ hook and then go our own way?  Or are we the ones that Jesus caught and brought into the boat (the Kingdom), the ones who had fruitfully grown in the faith?  The ones who heard Jesus’ message and responded in word and action?

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